


Monghost

by JED1



Series: Miraculous Tales [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AR, Action/Adventure, After-effects of Kidnapping and drugging, Alternate Reality, Bad Day(s) continue, Cliffhangers warning, Drama, Duusu renamed Regaal for PLOT reasons, Female-Pronoun Fox Kwami for PLOT Reasons, Female-Pronoun-Nooroo, Female-Pronoun-Trixx, Gen, Heavy Anticanon Kwami Origins/Backstory, Heavy Anticanon for Other Heroes/Miraculous/etc, Male-Pronoun Peafowl Kwami for PLOT Reasons, Medium Anticanon for Miraculous Abilities/Powers/etc, Medium Anticanon for World history/World Building, Medium Canon Divergence, Non-Canon Bee Kwami name, Non-Canon Peafowl Kwami name, Panic Attacks, Plot has gone AR and diverged heavily from canon plot, Pollen renamed Hunni because I want a non-moronic name, Wee bit of angst, Wee bit of fluff, ‘For Want of a Nail the Kingdom was Lost’ Trope is Strong Here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2019-08-20 01:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16545779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JED1/pseuds/JED1
Summary: A flash of blue caught his attention from the very edge of his line of sight, and Chat’s attention snapped  away from Ladybug towards it.There was someone leaping from rooftop to rooftop, heading roughly north-east.  Someone wearing a blue… tux?  dress suit?  with a green feather cape billowing behind him.“Ladybug!”There was another Champion.  That didn’t look ANYTHING like the description he’d been given for Shadowhawk!“Oh shoot, it’s the Peacock Chosen!”“The WHAAAAAAAT?!”“Your kwami might not have remembered to tell you yet or maybe he didn’t realize that the energy he felt was what it was, Tikki didn’t at first, but it’s not another akumatized like we thought-”Like they…  They had FORGOTTEN to TELL HIM about there BEING A ‘SECOND AKUMATIZED’?!  What else had he not been told!?“-but the it’s the Peacock Chosen and I’ll fill you in later but we’ve got to catch up to him and see if he’s on our side or if it’s just another trap by Papillon!  Come on!!”And with that Ladybug was off, and Chat Noir followed in her wake…





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   
>  [Original Akuma](https://meggymoohoo.tumblr.com/post/142210483470/what-if-the-akumas-kept-the-appearance-of-the) designs a commission from the ever amazing [Meggymoohoo!](http://meggymoohoo.tumblr.com)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few terms/concepts that are canon in my fanfic series that are NOT canon in the main show... such as akumas having a different appearance after a Champion accepts Papillon's deal, the use of 'Miraculous Restoration' instead of Miraculous Ladybug, the kwamis have a slightly different look from canon, and the concept of a 'glamour' that helps protect the identities of Miraculous Chosen.  
> To see what these important 'AU from canon, but canon in this series' facts are please click [here.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8189071/chapters/25892577)  
> To see what my Statute of Limitations on Spoiler Warnings ( _the amount of time that I will post Spoiler Warnings at the start of chapters/in comments_ ) as well as seeing a list of Fandom Terminology that I use in my tags, notes and comments, please click [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8189071/chapters/19397227).  
> 

“Need a hand?”

Adrien glanced up sharply from where he was trying to will his hands to stop shaking long enough to pour the molasses down the strip of plastic to start the density tower, then offered a weak smile. “No, I’m okay. Thanks, Nathanaël.” 

“You sure?” Nathanaël asked, frowning slightly as he stared at Adrien’s hands. 

Adrien started to open his mouth to answer, then coughed. Ugh. Great. Throat was all dry and scratchy, probably from how many times he’d almost hyperventilated yesterday and today… and if the way his nose felt was anything to go by, he had the start of a cold. 

Lovely. 

Just what he needed. 

Adrien stared at his hands, wishing the faint shaking would stop. “Well. Kinda, sorta, not so much, mostly yes?” 

Alix walked over and dumped the honey, corn syrup, chocolate syrup, maple syrup, milk, glycerin, dish soap, vegetable oil, and rubbing alcohol on the table. “That sounds more like a ‘No’ than a ‘Yes’.” 

“That’s because it WAS a no,” Cloe muttered as she put the tray she’d put the turpentine, olive oil, glass cleaning liquid, hair oil, baby oil, lamp oil and food dyes on down on the table. “I can’t believe you came to school today.” 

“I worked hard to come to school, I’m not going to skip unless I have no choice!” 

Chloé made a disgusted noise and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Sit down and drink some water or something, you sound like death.” 

“But the density tower…” 

“You told us what to get, we can figure out the rest,” Alix said with a smirk. 

Adrien’s intended argument was undercut by a sneeze and he pulled a water bottle out of his backpack and sat down to drink it. Noooo. He couldn’t get a coooold. He had to be able to become Chat Noir and do battle with evil and he had PATROLS and school and lacrosse practice and Mandarin and fencing and so much more and stupid body betraying him like this! …Okay maybe the stress from having been kidnapped and stuff was a part of it but STILL. 

Nathanaël eyed the tall clear-glass beaker. “So… how exactly are we gonna do this?” 

“It’s all about density, Nath,” Chloé scoffed. “Here, see? The table in the book even says what each liquid’s density is. All we have to do is pour it in order from heaviest to lightest! It’s so easy MARINETTE could do it.” 

The table shook as Adrien slammed his hand down on it, making everything rattle and the basters jump and roll off to the floor. “Stop it, Chloé!!” Adrien snapped. 

Everyone in the class stared at Adrien, shocked at the outburst. 

Adrien ignored them for the moment, glaring at Chloé. “Just… stop it.” Stop being so cruel. Stop driving others away. Stop… he wasn’t sure what he meant. Maybe he meant all of it. Maybe only part of it. He just… wasn’t up to it. Not now, maybe not for a long time, maybe not ever. 

Chloé scowled but turned back to the book with a growled ‘fine, whatever’. Someone coughed, then the teacher cleared her throat pointedly and everyone went back to their work. 

Alix was staring at him with a weird expression. Part respect, part worry. She looked from Adrien to Chloé and back again, then set her jaw. “So, do you really think we can get sixteen layers, Adrien?” 

Adrien blinked and looked at Alix, then looked back to the items on the table. He took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “Yeah. Just need to be precise in the amounts and careful in adding each layer in.” 

Alix clapped her hands together. “Great. Then let’s get started.” 

“Okay. First is the molasses.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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Marinette sat down and stared at her lunch, lost in though while Tikki greedily munched her way through a plate of cookies. Her parents were working downstairs in the bakery, Alya had been invited to lunch with Nino by Adrien… most likely so he could thank them for how they’d helped rescue him from the kidnappers in their own way. Oddly, Marinette didn’t feel jealous or envious. Adrien had no way of knowing Marinette was Ladybug, and thus no way to know that she’d had a much more direct hand in his rescue… and Marinette trusted Alya to tell Adrien about how Marinette had helped as well. But… 

“Tikki?” 

“Yyyyph Mmrrmmnnph?” 

“Adrien seemed… off… today, right?” Realizing what she just said, Marinette groaned and buried her face in her hands. “No, wait that isn’t- …I mean I know he’s going to be off, cause he was just KIDNAPPED and that’s probably why he was tense and seemed so spooked and jumpy all day and even yelled at Chloé but he… was coughing and sneezing and stuff.” 

Tikki finished chewing and swallowed, putting what was left of the cookie down on the plate for the moment. “Yes, he was. Maybe it’s a cold? Some people get them, when they’re under stress or the like for a long while. Adrien could be one of those people.” 

“But I used the Restoration, he should have been all fixed up, at least physically!!” 

Tikki nodded. “He was, but he’s still got the memories of what happened, and that’s probably stressing him out badly. If he’s been stressed for a while before this, it might be enough to give a cold a foothold.” 

Well, that made sense… and Adrien HAD been kinda worn out a little bit before the whole kidnapping thing, what with Men’s Fashion Week coming up soon and Haute Couture Week after that and then only a few months till Fashion Month, plus the stuff with Madame Mort and Sans Sheriff and a full schedule on top of that. 

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” 

Tikki considered that for a bit before slowly nodding. “He has people there to help him, and even just be there for him. More people than he knew and expected, I think. Once he has a chance to catch up on himself and feel safe again I think he’ll be okay.” 

“Do you think I should go check on him… talk to him… as Ladybug?” 

“Hmmm… Maaaaaybe? You did rescue him, but you might not want to draw more attention to him. Or to the fact that you were putting so much time and effort into it where you usually wouldn’t. That’s safer for everyone involved. …But I’d say no matter what, talk to Chat Noir first. You could leave him a message, maybe go for patrol tomorrow during lunch break so that you can compare notes, especially on Shadowhawk. She’s still out there, after all.” 

…Oh NO how could she have forgotten THAT even for a minu- 

_*Ring!!*_

Marinette all but jumped out of her skin, and she DID jump clear off her chair, knee hitting the table and making everything on it bounce and many things on it -including her plate and her ringing cellphone – fall off. Marinette dove for her cellphone with one hand and her plate with another, just barely managing to snag both. She shoved her plate back onto the table and answered her phone. “Hi, Madame Chamack!” 

Nadja’s smile was perhaps a bit strained, but relieved at the same time. #“Marinette, I’m glad I remembered what time your lunch break was correctly. …I’m sorry to do this so out of the blue, but I’ve got a favor to ask of you.”# 

“A favor?” 

Nadja nodded. #“I was hoping that you could baby-sit Manon tomorrow night and let her sleep over with me picking her up in the morning. I normally wouldn’t ask without giving you a few days warning, but my primary babysitter just called me up to let me know she’s come down with a nasty case of the flu. I’d be dropping Manon off around 8, right at her bedtime, so she’ll probably go to sleep right away like the last time.”# 

Marinette nodded. “I’d be fine with that, Madame Chamack, Let me go see if my parents would be okay with it?” 

#“Of course. I need to get back to work, I’m afraid, so just send me a text letting me know one way or another?”# 

Marinette nodded, then hung up and went downstairs. A quick conversation later and Marinette was texting Mme. Chamack as she walked back upstairs to let her know she could babysit Manon. All Marinette would have to do would be keep Manon upstairs and quiet like she had last time Manon had slept over, as both of her parents would be either going to bed or already asleep by then. She paused, hand on the door to the living room, frowning as a thought occurred to her. 

She opened the door and went in, looking around to make sure no one had come into the room and that Tikki was still out and about out of habit. There was, after all, now the possibility that Chat Noir might have decided to drop in for a visit. 

But the room was clear, and Tikki was sitting on the kitchen counter, munching her way through the last of the cookies, so all was well. 

“Tikki? I didn’t think of this till after I sent the text saying I could… so I can’t really back out of it, buuuut…” 

“Bhhh?” Tikki asked around her mouthful of cookie. 

“I was worried… I mean, Shadowhawk is still out there. What if she attacks or is spotted or something else happens and Chat and I have to go and save the day… erm, night… and everything? I mean Manon falls asleep early and sleeps like a rock but… I’m supposed to be watching her. Do you think I should invite Alya over to a sleepover as well so she can watch Manon if I have to leave?” 

Tikki considered that, then nodded, swallowing before speaking. “That’s a very good point, Marinette, but Alya is observant and clever. There’s no excuse or reason I can think of that Alya… or anyone else… would believe if you had to leave in the middle of the night for what could end up being several hours. Several hours when Ladybug would be very obviously out and about.” 

Marinette winced. She hadn’t thought of that. ‘I’m going to go talk to Maman and Papa’ wouldn’t work for how long a battle usually took, not by a long shot… and not when Alya KNEW that Marinette’s parents went to bed before 8pm. “So… what do you think we should do?” 

Tikki was quiet for several minutes, then she sighed. “We should hope that Shadowhawk doesn’t do anything. Papillon almost never attacks at night, so that pattern should – hopefully – hold. Manon DOES go to sleep early and easily, and sleeps heavily… As long as you lock the door to the living room and the front door as well… Manon shouldn’t be able to get out if she does wake up while you’re gone. And it’s easier to come up with an excuse to tell your parents if they come upstairs and find Manon alone. …The easiest would be have Manon sleep on your bed and tell your parents you went up to watch TV or chat with your friends on your phone and fell asleep.” 

Marinette nodded and sat down at the table, grabbing her fork and spearing her salad. She didn’t like it… but Tikki WAS right in that there was no excuse that would fool Alya, and she had to maintain her secret identity. And if she practiced the li- …the excuses… she’d be able to convince her parents if worst came to worst. 

Hopefully, Friday night would be an Akuma free night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real Life has been... chaotic for me this year (to say the least), with a lot of health issues and time issues and...  
> 'Bleh' sums it up, basically.  
> So as a result, I am late in posting this by a full month, and will - for the time being - only be posting a chapter once a week. I just don't have as much bufer as I want and I'm still dealing with health and time issues IRL.  
> ~~~~~~~  
> I TRIED. I really tried to have Alya present for Audimatrix as she is in canon, as I don’t really like the idea of a ~6 year old being left alone, even if they’re asleep and the babysitter has vital hero stuff.
> 
> …But despite working on it for TEN MONTHS… I couldn’t come up with a single good EXCUSE for Marinette to give to Alya. No way that would not end with Alya starting to figure it out. (short of beating Alya with the stupid stick)
> 
>  
> 
> So, it was changed. Actually fairly last minute (I’m serious I REALLY tried to keep this plot element) as I’m going back and editing this after writing Chapter 10 when I basically had to admit that… yeah. There’s no way to make it actually WORK.


	2. Chapter 2

Alya bounced in place slightly, annoyed at how slow the elevator was, glancing at Adrien’s bodyguard out of the corner of her eye before finally giving into temptation and twisting around to look at Adrien and Nino.

Adrien looked more at ease than he had in school, although there was still a kind of ‘wired’ edge to him. He was, at least, giving Nino his full attention as Nino ranted and rambled on about some new DJing gear he was using and some old records he’d found while carousing the city. 

Alya waited until Nino paused, then spoke up. “So, are we having lunch here or are we stopping off here for something first?” 

“Oh. Um. It’s a special place that… that I recently found out about. …And it’s important that I go there soon, though I’m not really a hundred percent sure why. And you guys should come too. I think. Maybe?” 

Nino and Alya exchanged glances. “Uh, okay?” 

“You gonna be alright, dude?” 

Adrien sighed, running a hand over his face. “Sorry, still a bit off. I’ll be okay, just gonna take me a bit. Got time set aside for my therapist this Sunday too, and he’s a really good guy, that’ll help a lot.” 

Alya smiled. “Glad you’ve got someone you can talk to about things.” 

Adrien nodded. “Yeah, most things.” 

He glanced at the pocket of his overshirt, then looked up when the elevator doors opened into the hallway, and lead the way down to a door labeled ‘Master Fu’s ‘Traditional Medicine’’ and paused, taking a deep breath. “Okay, this is the place.” 

“Soooooo, we’re eating lunch here, dude?” 

Adrien nodded. “Yeah. Plus talking about other stuff with someone.” 

“What kinda stuff?” Alya asked as Adrien opened the door, showing a small shop filled with cabinets made up of hundreds of tiny drawers, things like roots and mysterious milky white liquids in glass jars, spices and seaweed and candles and more neatly displayed and stored on top of the cabinets and counter spaces and hanging from the ceiling. The smell was a mysterious exotic musk, some of it competing, other parts melding into a new whole. They walked in quietly and just as the Gorilla closed the door with a soft click, a tiny old man – easily as small as Alix- walked around one of the cabinets to smile at them. 

“Superhero stuff, Grapes,” Plagg said, flying out of Adrien’s overshirt, even as a green kwami flew up out of the old man’s Hawaiian shirt. 

“I see you have many friends, Chat Noir,” the old man said with a smile. 

Adrien just flopped to sit on the ground, burying his face in his hands with a groan while Plagg cackled. 

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Excuses for her parents created and practiced, with promises to practice more after school and in the morning and during Friday’s lunch break until she could manage them convincingly, Marinette went back to her lunch, staring out the window at the park, idly considering the trees and bushes and mentally designing dresses on the shapes and colors. 

A flash of blue made her glance past the park, then run to the window… but it was just a bus driving on the bridge. 

How could she have forgotten?! 

“Tikki! We forgot! Papillon has another akumatized out and about and-” 

Tikki squeaked, eyes going wide and she looked… guilty? 

“Tikki?” 

“I completely forgot to tell you. You just were so tired I didn’t want you to have to stay up a second longer than necessary, then you were just serious about the schedule…” Tikki groaned. 

“What did you forget?” 

“The person in blue that we saw, it wasn’t an akumatized… It was the Peacock Chosen. When you shouted, I looked out of the purse and caught a glimpse of him, and that was enough for me to realize who it was – or more, I suspected and have been keeping… hmm, how to phrase it… soundings? ...out for energy and going over my memories of the past week to see if I remembered picking up any spikes of power.” 

“Spikes in power? Energy soundings? What are you talking about?” 

Tikki sighed. It would be easiest to just stick with what she’d told Plagg she’d been going to say, but… maybe that wasn’t for the best in the long run. She patted the table, and Marinette came to sit next to her. 

“I’ve mentioned before, that we kwamis are Quantic Gods, bound to our Miraculous. Gods generate… a certain type of power that is unique from the energy created by spirits or human magics or the natural magic or non-magical power like lightning, fire and technology. Kwamis create an even more unique, and at the same time subdued, power than that of other Gods. Our bond to our Miraculous masks our power except when we have some form of connection – like Plagg and I, or like the Erotes of the Sparrow Miraculous, or the four symbols, and a few others.” 

“So, you can sense where Plagg is, or when he’s close, but that’s why we don’t just run over the city so you can try to sense the Butterfly kwami?” 

Tikki nodded. “Yes. I could be within millimeters of Nooroo every day and not know it. But…” 

“But?” 

“Kwamis can usually sense when another kwami – even one we do not have a direct connection to – transforms someone for the first time. That is what sparks the bond between us and our Chosen, and it is a powerful enough surge of energy that the Miraculous and our bond to it can not usually mask it.” 

Marinette frowned, working her way through that information. “So, that means-” she blinked, eyes wide. “Papillon! That’s how Master Fu knew he was… uh… there and tested Chat and I before Ivan was akumatized!” 

Tikki nodded. “Yes. Nooroo did not try to shield or hide the bond at all, likely hoping that there was someone, some kwami or someone else who can sense kwami magic, close enough in the world to sense it and thus come to her rescue.” 

“So it CAN be hidden?” 

“Yes, although that is very **very** difficult for us to do, and even then, it is not always guaranteed to work.” 

Marinette nodded, then froze, eyes going wide. “So Papillon knows that Chat and I are new and not experienced?!” 

“Well…” Tikki thought back to the first battle against Stoneheart, and the early months of saving Paris, and the flailing, wailing and occasional failing that both Marinette and Adrien had done. “He likely could have figured it out no matter what, but yes, Plagg and I did not try to mask our first transformations of you and Chat. We couldn’t risk you going into battle when we were drained at the start.” 

“Oh. Oh wow. …So, there’s no way he would have fallen for the ‘I’m several thousand years old’ thing either, huh?” 

“Well, just from having Nooroo he likely knows that the Chosen are not immortal, and from there, would know you cannot be the Ladybug of ancient Egypt.” 

Suddenly, the reason WHY such a large percentage of akumatizations happened at her school made so much, and such terrifying, sense. “So, he knows that the book was probably mine. …and Alya told everyone in Paris that our collège was the only one still using that book on the Ladyblog.” 

Tikki’s eyes went wide and then she slumped and nodded with a groan. “Yes. I hadn’t thought of that, but yes, he would know that. He must be trying to work his way through the girls at your school… maybe the female teachers and staff as well, the Glamour would keep him from really being able to judge your age.” 

“Okay, that… that’s not quite as terrifying as it could have been. At least he can’t narrow it down to something like it being just troisième or just students.” 

Tikki nodded. “At least there’s that.” But to swing the conversation back on track… “That means that I sensed when Regaal first transformed his new Chosen.” Hmm… a small lie… “I had trouble picking it up, and thought it perhaps was something else at first… but when we saw the new Chosen I went back over my memories for the last few weeks realized that I HAD really sensed Regaal forming a new bond.” 

Marinette nodded. “Okay, so…” she frowned. “Wait. You said that the Peacock pin was with the grimoire, right? You sensed its energies on it. …DOES THAT MEAN ADRIEN IS THE PEACOCK CHOSEN?!” 

“…Adrien was still held captive by the kidnappers when I sensed Regaal form his new bond AND when we saw the new Chosen.” 

Marinette blinked then offered a sheepish grin. “Oh, yeah, good point. …So, but wait, if it wasn’t Adrien then who else could it be? How else could it have been taken out of where-ever the grimoire was kept if not Adrien?” 

“Well… we know Adrien looked through the book more than once… it’s quite possible he saw the pages on the Peacock Miraculous and recognized the pin and decided to take it out as well, even if it was just to compare… or maybe it fell out of the safe and landed in one of his bags and he didn’t notice it.” 

Marinette nodded, relieved. “That makes sense. And since he must not have tried to put the pin on, since it wasn’t in a special box like your Miraculous were, the Peacock kwami would have stayed inside the Miraculous.” 

“Mmhmm. The thing is we… just have no idea where Adrien might have lost it. If it fell into his bag and he didn’t see it, he might have lost it anywhere at school, like when Lila made him drop his bag. If he had it on him to examine later he might have lost it at the park. If he left it at home it’s possible that someone on the staff might have seen it and taken it home or even thrown it out.” 

“So, it could be just about anyone really.” 

Tikki nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I did in Shadowhawk, I am again mentioning here: I came up with a fairly vital plot line during the Hiatus between Season 1 and Season 2, making use of the Peacock and Fox kwami… the issue is, for reasons I can’t explain now, that these changes required the Peacock to be male and the fox to be female, and also had an impact on the Peacock kwami’s name (which we didn’t initially know during the hiatus, although we did find out later).
> 
> As a result, in my series, the Peacock kwami will be using male pronouns and named Regaal… and likely will have a fairly different personality from Duusu in canon.
> 
>  
> 
> The fox is still named Trixx, but will be female.
> 
>  
> 
> …The Bee is being renamed to Hunni because Pollen is an unimaginative and really stupid name for her, I’m sorry.
> 
>  
> 
> …Oh, and also tied to this Gonna be Important Plot Point, some of the Zodiac kwami are NOT the same as in the show, plus a few other matters involving them.


	3. Chapter 3

Adrien was still refusing to look at anyone. It was, Nino felt, a bit ridiculous. After all, according to Master Fu, Plagg tended to pull this sort of thing all the time… to the point of having a running bet with Wayzz about how big a ‘Pride’ he could build for his Chosen in a set amount of time. Now granted, Alya and Nino had been rather loud in their shock in finding out that Adrien’s BODYGUARD had been in on the secret. M. Chaplin, though, had been rather amused at it all, and now Nino was translating for him since Adrien was refusing to look up, Alya’s grasp on sign language was spotty, and Master Fu and Wayzz didn’t know any French Sign at all… and letting Plagg translate or tell the story was probably a bad idea all around, given – well – Plagg.

“So, I’d suspected for a while, it is my job to spot patterns and small things after all, that’s how I keep my clients safe. But I kept convincing myself that it was ridiculous – that was probably the Glamour, dude.” 

M. Chaplin frowned slightly, tilting his head. **::The what?::**

“Ah, some things transcend words,” Master Fu said with a smile. “The Glamour is a type of magic, one used by mortals, spirits and gods. It impacts how you perceive and remember the world. In the case of kwamis and things tied to them, it keeps you from being able to truly figure out who a Miraculous user is, most especially when one is transformed, but its protection does extend to us when we are not transformed. The primary way to get around it is to have a kwami actively decide to weaken the Glamour for you, to see a transformation or de-transformation, or something along those lines.” He chuckled. “Of course, with a certain kwami the question simply becomes… why did you decide to bring Monsieur Chaplin in to Adrien’s support group, Plagg?” 

Adrien actually looked up from the floor at that, looking at his kwami… who suddenly looked abashed, rubbing the back of his head. 

“Ah, well, you see that… ah… that’s a funny story! I, um…” Plagg sank in the air. “Adrien’dBoughtSomeSpecialCheeseForMe,ButHeDidn’tHaveTheMiniFridgeInHisRoomYet,SoHePutItInTheFridgeInTheKitchen.AndIGotHungry.SoISnuckDownToTheKitchenToEatItThatNight.AndTheGorillaIsReallyStealthySoIWasEatingAndTurnedAroundAndThereWasAWallOfGorillaWithACupOfMilkHe’dJustWarmedUpInTehMicrowaveForHisSonToHelpHimSleepStaringAtMe.” 

“…Seriously?!” Alya demanded. 

Adrien just dropped his head onto the table with a groan. “Plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag…” 

M. Chaplin was huffing in silent laughter and Plagg darted to hide in Adrien’s overshirt with a shouted, “Shut up it worked out for the best!!” 

“That was MORE THAN EIGHT MONTHS AGO!” Adrien wailed into the table. “He’s known for THAT LONG!?” 

“Um. Yes.” 

“PlaaaaaAaaaaag!” 

Nino couldn’t help but start laughing at that. Although… “I guess we got lucky that you never got akumatized, Monsieur.” 

**::I knew that strong emotions attracted the A.K.U.M.A, so I have worked to try to avoid strong emotions.::**

Nino blinked. “Avoid strong emotion. Huh. Simple but… yeah that’d work.” 

Plagg stuck his head out of Adrien’s over shirt. “And I’ve been doing the same ‘extend protection’ trick on him that I’ve been doing on you two the whole time.” 

“Ah, on that subject, there is something I can offer you,” Master Fu said, getting to his feet and walking over to the antique record player he had on the back table, sitting next to the cash register. He reached into the horn and pulled out necklaces of silver metal and purple stone. 

“What are those?” Adrien asked. 

“Protection.” 

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Marinette should have known her luck wouldn’t last. 

Granted, for once, she wasn’t late, if anything she was coming back to school a bit early. But with everything she’d just found out about the blue akumatized not being an akumatized but a Miraculous Chosen of unknown alliance she was too wired to really sit still… and maybe also she wanted to find Alya and ask if Alya had managed to start working on that ‘track the akuma’ map with Juleka and Max… 

Still, she’d been rushing, and not really paying attention. 

Which was how she ended up running headlong into the one person that she’d been managing to avoid for almost a full week. 

Pretty impressive, given Lila had joined their class and by some cruel twist of fate sat within a few seats of Marinette in all the classes, and was part of her group now for the Art Class team project. 

“Hey! Watch it!” 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, I’ll just get out of your way, have a nice day!” Marinette said as fast as she could, already sidestepping to edge past Lila and continue on her race up the stairs and to the Computer Lab. Alya was probably already in class, given she’d seen Adrien’s limo parked out in front of the school, and if she could get to the room before the bell rang she’d have the perfect chance to talk to her best friend instead of waiting two hours. 

“Head in the clouds? Thinking about anyone special?” Lila asked, smiling brightly and seemingly actually curious… but Marinette couldn’t banish the lies Lila had told from her memory, the way she’d smiled while lying about being a superhero, about being Ladybug’s friend. …Anyone else, and Marinette would probably have been willing to start fresh. Put the past behind them – especially since Lila had yet to really interact with Marinette, and outside of a lie that they were friends and the stuff she’d done while akumatized… she hadn’t really done anything bad to LADYBUG either. 

…and yet. 

She still made the effort to smile. “No, not really. Just going to talk to Alya about some stuff.” 

Lila nodded sagely, and Marinette felt her teeth clench even though Lila hadn’t SAID anything. She was reading too much into it, she was letting the fact that Lila had been _(was still?)_ interested in Adrien mess with her. Letting the fact that Lila had lied about ‘her’ and lied to her friends mess with her. 

“Well, I’ll see you later, Marinette. I must find Adrien and thank him for that LOVELY lunch we shared.” 

No. No, that wasn’t true, that was just Lila lying. She knew it. Yes, Adrien had invited Alya and Nino with him and it was POSSIBLE that Lila had been invited as well and Marinette hadn’t known…. 

And Adrien had invited Chloé and Nathanaël to lunch at his home not so long ago, and she knew Chloé had been going over to Adrien’s place almost every other day _(it wasn’t spying. It wasn’t. It was just… accidental observation.)._

But Adrien wouldn’t have invited Lila to lunch, not after the mess with the book _(Chloé had to have told him that Lila stole it at the very least)_ , and her lying to him in the park _(if Ladybug ‘taking it too far’ hadn’t distracted him from it)_ and all that other stuff would have meant that there was NO WAY Adrien would have invited Lila to lunch the day after he had been rescued from being KIDNAPPED. 

…and yet. 

“Well, isn’t THIS amusing.” 

Oh no. Not Chloé. Marinette wasn’t up to dealing with Lila AND Chloé. She didn’t think ANYONE could be up to that. 

Chloé stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at Lila and Marinette with a smug, superior, expression. 

“Unfortunately, as much as I’d LOVE to let this little drama play out… There is still some unfinished business to discuss.” 

“And what makes you think I’d stoop to speak to someone like YOU?” Lila asked, raising her chin haughtily. “You’re just jealous that-” 

“That what? That you know Prince Ali Achu? That’s interesting, considering the fact that Rose has been pen-pals with him since école élémentaire and the two dated for at about a month after they met in person… and yet he never once mentioned you.” 

Lila’s jaw clenched. “He probably didn’t want to hurt her feelings.” 

“Oh, and is that why you told Nino you’d introduce him to James Horner and give him a step in the right direction of getting an internship with him?” 

“Oh, that was-” 

“Or the song Jagged Stone wrote for you, or how you’re B.F.Fs with Ladybug?” 

Lila smirked. “Jealous?” 

Chloé examined the nails of her left hand. “Of you being friends with Ladybug, if you even are? …No, never.” She waved a languid hand at Lila. “You’re welcome to Ladybug if that’s what floats your boat, I certainly don’t envy you.” 

Lila blinked, caught off guard. “I thought you were a huge Ladybug fan. Had a costume and everything?” 

Marinette winced slightly. The fact that the aftermath of Antibug had included Chloé going from Ladybug’s biggest fan to closing Ladybug out and essentially exiling the hero from her world-view or pretending that Chat Noir was the only hero of Paris had been a long-lasting effect that Marinette had neither seen coming or really knew what to do about. On one hand, Chloé was no longer idolizing Ladybug or claiming to be her biggest fan… but on the other, Chloé’s hero worship of Ladybug was what Marinette honestly considered to be Chloé’s one real redeeming feature and hope of improvement as a person… but on the other hand Chloé hadn’t gotten any WORSE so far as Marinette could tell and maybe even had gotten the TINIEST better… sometimes… on rare occasion. …and it wasn’t like Chat had a plethora of fans, and he’d always had a weird amount of patience for Chloé so… 

It was a confusing mess, so far as Marinette was concerned. 

Although she did wonder if Chloé still had the Ladybug costume she’d had made for herself and the Chat Noir costume she’d had made for Sabrina. …Also if Chloé had become enough of a fan of Chat Noir to have a Chat Noir costume made for herself. 

…Shoot, now she wished she had a way to find that out, because she was really curious about it. 

“I realized the error of my ways,” Chloé said coldly, snapping Marinette back to the here and now sharply. 

“Oh, really? Because I happen to know that you-” 

“Lies have a way of rebounding and ruining everything, Lila.” 

Lila and Marinette both jumped and looked past Chloé to find Adrien standing there, staring down at Lila with an expression Marinette couldn’t place. 

Lila’s eyes flicked from Adrien to Chloé and back again. “You really can do so much better that someone like her, Adrien. Don’t you know what she’s like? What she’s done?” 

“I know Chloé better than anybody. I’m still her friend.” 

That visibly caught Lila off guard, and it threw Marinette mentally off-balance too. The phrase was… vague. It implied a lot of things without confirming or denying. It reminded Marinette of the things Chat would say on occasion, when he had to skirt around stuff while not breaking his self-made oath to never lie to Ladybug. It also made Marinette think of the brief – argument? confrontation? – that Adrien had had with Chloé in Chemistry before lunch break. 

“I told you what lies can do before, and I meant it. I’ve seen what lies, especially about other people, can lead to,” Adrien said quietly. 

Lila winced, then set her jaw. “What was it you wanted to demand of me, Chloé?” 

“The book you stole. It not only got Adrien in trouble with his father, it’s the reason Adrien was KIDNAPPED and held hostage. All because you just had to go klepto.” 

“I had no idea the book was special,” Lila pointed out sharply. “I thought it was just a book of superheroes Adrien had. I was PLANNING on giving it back to him in the park, but someone stole it before I could. If you want someone to blame for the horrible things that happened to Adrien, blame whoever stole the book from me!” And with that, Lila raised her chin proudly and stalked up the stairs, walking past Chloé without looking at her, but giving Adrien a long lingering look that made Marinette clench her jaw despite her best intentions… then Lila was past and stalking proudly into the Computer Lab. 

Adrien sighed sadly, then looked to Chloé. “Why did you bring that up, Chloé? I didn’t… I didn’t want everyone to know about the kidnapping and stuff. You should have ASKED me.” 

Chloé hrmphed and walked over to casually rest a hand on his arm. “Everyone in school was worried about you, Adrihoney. A lot of us were even trying to find you, and this way maybe people will give you that bit of space you need.” 

Adrien closed his eyes and shook his head, shoulders curling up. “And that’s it?” 

“…and maybe discuss the manner in which she accosted on your good will her first day. You really do have to learn to stand up to people, you know.” 

Adrien raised his eyebrows and opened his eyes to give Chloé a flat look. “You do realize that includes you.” 

Chloé hrmphed again. “As if I’d do anything to require that.” She patted Adrien’s chest, then sauntered into the Computer Lab. 

Adrien sighed, then glanced down at Marinette, walking down the steps to rest a hand on her shoulder. “You alright, Marinette? You ran into Lila kinda hard.” 

Marinette smiled, feeling a bit thrilled. “Oh yes, I’m fine! Never butter, I-i-uh-ah-I mean better! Never better! Fit as bread and butter! Had a great lunch of horses!” 

Noooooo, it was all tumbling together and Adrien was giving her a look that was half confused and half concerned and Marinette panicked. 

“I mean peacocks!” 

…oh STUPID brain why had she jumped to THAT… 

“IMeanIHaveToGetToClassTheBellsAboutToRing!!” 

And with that she bolted up the stairs and into room, leaving a very confused Adrien standing alone on the stairwell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To start… A ‘fix-it’ I have planned for Princess Perfume is that Rose has been pen-pals with Prince Ali since elementary/école élémentaire, and that is why she knew so much about him, was already more than half in love with him, and was writing him a letter, and so on. Post Princess Fragrance, the two dated for about a month, before they decided that the long-distance relationship was not working out best and ended it on mutually pleasant terms in late April and have now (by late May) gone back to being best friends and pen-pals. (Rose and Juleka have just started dating, a week or so by the point Monghost takes place, Ali is absolutely certain that he’s the best wingman ever because he’s the one that explained to Rose that Juleka was FLIRTING with her. …I mean I love Rose but she is an airhead.)  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> Chloé losing her hero worship of Ladybug as a long lasting consequence of what happened in Antibug is something I intend to have in the fix-it series that I haven’t had a chance to actually sit and WRITE DOWN yet… although I’m honestly considering putting up outline placeholders with notes and the like so I can at least point to a point of reference for me and my readers.  
> I’ve a few reasons for this, primary of which is that I really don’t like how the show – but especially Astruc – treats Chloé’s hero worship of Ladybug. It is treated as both Chloé’s ‘only redeeming aspect’ AND AT THE SAME TIME as some terrible thing that openly disgusts and dismays Marinette and that it is a shallow/a bad thing/so on. On top of that it was treated as a cheap ‘LOL she idolizes Ladybug but looks down on Marinette LOL’ thing which… ugh.  
> It is, basically, a nasty case of ‘have your cake and eat it too’.  
> To me, Chloé has the POTENTIAL to be redeemed and become a decent person, and that potential is COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT of her hero worship of Ladybug.  
> Secondly, it created a long lasting, STATUS QUO CHANGING, effect – something the show is notoriously lacking in.  
> Thirdly, it actually is fairly in-character for Chloé to lose her hero worship after what went down in Antibug. NO, this does not place the blame solely on Ladybug, the onus is equally on Chloé for this and even Chat’s got part in it. Of course the interesting thing with Chloé that we find out in Antibug (and if you pay attention, in other episodes) is that Chloé CLOSES PEOPLE OUT, to the extreme of pretending they doesn’t exist/exiling them from her personal sphere of influence when she’s angry. That’s a fascinating behavior set and one that you actually see a lot of in cases of kids of a nasty divorce/unstable divorce on top of it.  
> Hence, after Antibug, while Chloé was no longer as really ANGRY, and accepts Ladybug’s apology and actually-unlike canon-extends an apology of her own… she still closes Ladybug out afterwards, hanging up her Ladybug costume and treating Chat Noir like he was the primary hero of Paris ( _as opposed to the how before she… and let’s be honest the SHOW to a greater degree… treated Ladybug as the primary hero and Chat as her sidekick)._  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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> Oh by the by… unlike in Canon… Lila still EXISTS and is in the main class now like we were told she was going to be during the hiatus. Marinette is still pissed at her, CHLOÉ is still pissed at her, Adrien is trying to avoid her as much as possible, Alya and Nino are pissed but also confused as they find themselves WANTING to like and forgive her and everyone ELSE seems to be liking/forgiving her. The confusion gets even stronger when, after getting the necklaces it’s oddly EASIER to remember the whole ‘lied and stole and harassed before being akumatized’ thing… which will be mentioned in fic it just hasn’t really come up yet as I haven’t really had a chance to fully delve into Lila and what’s going on there yet  
> Note that Lila is NOT EVIL, she’s shades of grey, like everyone else. Whatever her reasons for her behavior in canon are STILL her reasons now, she’s just got a bit of a ‘bonus’ from the magic she’s using… (Okay so the season finale aired and now this is a case that UNLIKE IN CANON she has reasons for what she’s doing, her parents aren’t idiots who fell for her lies for months, and she is not the ‘muhahaha’ evil she came across as in the show. Good lord, Astruc) She’s a 14 year old girl who is out of place and in many ways out of her depth and resorts to big lies to try and make friends and impress people… and is so used to not staying in one place long enough for her lies to risk unraveling until now. That she’s been homeschooled until VERY recently just adds to the mess she is unintentionally crafting.


	4. Chapter 4

The decision to go see Master Fu after school was an impulsive one, but Marinette had a feeling it was still the right one. There was a lot of stuff she’d been thinking about lately, but something Chat had brought up when they’d fought Mnemosyne had really stuck with her, and the recent mess with Soldier and then the kidnappers had brought it back to the forefront of her mind.

The bus came to a stop and Marinette got off and headed to the building that Master Fu worked and lived at. There were a few people milling around the lobby and the antique store, but Marinette slipped past them and up the stairs, all the way to the third floor and soon was knocking on Master Fu’s apartment door. 

Master Fu opened the door, looking a trifle surprised, but still pleased to see her. “Marinette, good evening!” he ushered her into the loft-style apartment and walked past her to go to the kitchen area, where he apparently had been making his dinner. Tikki flew out from Marinette’s purse and over the kitchen counter, sitting down beside Wayzz, who was eating small chilies and drinking tea from what looked like a miniature tea set, each cup just over half the size of the kwamis' heads. “Would you like to share in my dinner?” When Marinette shook her head no, Master Fu nodded and picked up a kettle off the stove top, pouring it into a waiting tea pot. “What brings you to my door?” 

“Why DON’T I have ‘bug’ abilities like Chat Noir had ‘cat’ abilities?!” 

Master Fu blinked and put the teapot he’d just picked up back down on its coaster and turned to look at Marinette in confusion. “I’m uncertain what you mean, I’m afraid.” 

“It’s…” Marinette sighed and walked over to the table and plopped down. “Like, Chat has hearing as good as a real cat’s, can see in the dark, has enhanced smell – uh, I mean he smells better not… it… He’s got a really good sense of smell. He can run on all fours and has crazy balance and… just CAT stuff. Why can’t I do any bug stuff?” 

Master Fu walked over with the tea kettle and small bamboo steamer of dumplings, both of which he put down on the table beside a bowl of soup. He sat down and poured himself and Marinette a cup of tea, and took a sip before leaning back slightly in consideration. 

“I am afraid that I do not, myself, know the reason for this. I can say that, given other ‘bug’ Miraculi Chosen, you should have some abilities.” 

“Like what?” 

“Hm. The ability to stick to walls or ceilings or similar surfaces, so long as they are not sheer like glass. Enhanced sense of scent and hearing, and the ability to detect motion and electromagnetic fields… usually via some form of ‘antennae’ in the costume, much as the Black Cats pick up sounds via the false ears they usually have in their costumes. Limited flight via wings that materialize, are part of the costume or are formed from an aspect of the costume, such as ribbons or a cape.” 

“I can FLY?” Marinette squeaked in delight. 

“Only in a limited manner, much as Chat Noir can only run and move in a quadrupedal manner for a limited time. Or more, you should be able to. Tikki, Wayzz, would either of you happen to know why the ‘theme’ abilities of the Ladybug are not present?” 

The two kwamis looked at each other, then Wayzz offered a small ‘go on, try it’ gesture to Tikki, who nodded and took a deep breath in. “Due to the actions of one of my Chosen, centuries ago, the Guardians locked the ‘theme’ abilities away.” She blinked, looking surprised. “Oh, I was able to say it!” 

“It must be that Master Fu is a Guardian and asked you,” Wayzz said, nodding as he crossed his arms, rubbing his chin with one hand. 

Master Fu’s eyebrows went up slightly. “Wayzz, was a binding placed on Tikki?” 

Wayzz nodded. “Yes Master, although it was an unintentional one. It, like the bindings of the abilities, were done in an act of grief by the leader of the Guardians of the Miraculous of that time, who then banished the Ladybug Miraculous where ‘he would never see it again’, and he took this secret to the grave.” 

“Where did he banish you, Tikki?” Marinette asked, worried. “I hope you weren’t trapped somewhere all alone for too long?” 

Tikki smiled. “Oh, I wasn’t alone, Plagg and I are bound together in ways not even the Guardians fully understand, so when my Miraculous was banished, Plagg’s was as well. As for where we were banished to… that would be the Bermuda Triangle.” 

“Huh, that doesn’t sound TOO bad…” 

Tikki giggled. “There is more to the Bermuda Triangle than most people realize. It is not just a section of water, it is also a portal to a group of pocket dimensions that is… well nigh impossible to escape from.” 

Marinette’s eyes went wide. “OH. That sounds… How are you not still in there?” 

“It’s only nigh impossible… and Plagg and I have luck, and powerful magic, on our side. Unfortunately, while we were able to get our Chosen out, due to how the Triangle works we came out in a different time period then we intended to and in Central America instead of Europe, the time and home of Micazoyolin, my Chosen. Which left poor Amelia in the wrong time and place…” Tikki sighed sadly. “She said that she always wished she could have flown again, I wonder if she ever found a way.” 

Marinette blinked. Tikki… COULDN’T… be talking about who she thought she was. 

“I assume that, in some way, you eventually came back to Tibet before I was recruited by the order of the Guardians?” 

“More or less, yes,” Tikki said. “Of course, by then the Guardians didn’t know that the theme powers were locked away, and Plagg and I, and any other kwamis who could have spoken up, were unable to do so.” 

“So… is there a way to get the abilities back? Because they sound like they’d be really useful and… no matter what the Ladybug before me… way before me… did, that shouldn’t mean that it should stay that way, right?” 

Master Fu closed his eyes as he sipped his tea, considering for several minutes before nodding. “There should be a way, I would think. Wayzz, Tikki, if I give you permission, would you be able to look through my collected books and scrolls to find spells or methods to remove the old binding?” 

Wayzz nodded. “Yes, Master.” 

“Very well. Marinette, if you wish, you may look through the books as well, as your luck might let you find what we seek… although I would ask you not to speak any spells or incantations you see aloud, for obvious reasons.” 

Marinette nodded. “Of course. What will you be doing, Master Fu?” 

Master Fu chuckled. “Eating my dinner, then shooing you off home so your parents do not worry, then joining Wayzz in searching for the spells and information we will need.” 

Marinette couldn’t help but giggle and walked over to Master Fu’s bookshelves. Tikki and Wayzz explained what she should be looking for and Marinette grabbed a double armful of likely looking books and scrolls and walked over to Master Fu’s futon, sitting down on it for lack of other places to sit in the small apartment. 

The third book had a bit of a shock for her in it. 

A spell for letting people regain memories they had lost – from trauma, from not being old enough to really REMEMBER it… or from magic. 

Marinette glanced up through her lashes. 

Master Fu was eating his dinner still, and his folding screen mostly blocked her from his line of sight. Tikki and Wayzz were at the bookshelf, their backs to her as they read through books and scrolls at a speed Marinette couldn’t even really process. 

Moving as carefully as possible, she slid her phone out of her pocket, made sure it was silenced, then carefully took pictures of all the pages relating to the spell. Sticking her phone back in her purse, she quickly skimmed through the other pages of the book and, seeing nothing to do with removing magic bindings, set it aside and picked up the next book. 

It was Wayzz who finally found the first part of what they needed in a personal grimoire of a Guardian who had been a contemporary of the one who had bound and banished Tikki (and by extension Plagg). Master Fu finished his meal and he, Wayzz and Tikki went through the grimoire to find out how to see the spell, as it was hidden by magic on the pages. 

Fortunately, all that was needed was the light of a Waning Gibbous moon… which was what they would have tonight… although it would require no artificial light at all shine on the pages, only the natural light of the moon. 

“Hmm, it seems I will be catching a late train out to the country side this evening,” Master Fu said. “Ah well, not a true hardship. France is lovely this time of year. But this does at least mean that I can have the spell all ready for you, almost certainly, to use tomorrow nigh-” 

“No, I can’t, I have to BABYSIT!” 

Master Fu blinked, caught a trifle flat-footed by the outburst. “Ah, well… then… Saturday morning, perhaps?” 

Marinette groaned at the idea of having to stay awake after Nadja came by to pick up Manon and sneak across the city instead of going back to sleep for a few hours… 

…but… 

“Sure, sounds perfect.” 

“Very well, then we will remove the bindings and you will regain access to abilities lost to the Ladybug Miraculous for centuries!” 

Marinette couldn’t help but smile as the excitement built. “I can’t wait!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Master Fu’s loft-style apartment is basically the one that Marinette/Bridgette would have had in the original PV version of Miraculous ladybug, as it’s a rather cool design and one I wanted to see used.  
>   
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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> And yes, the Bermuda Triangle is in reference to Zag’s other property currently airing – Zak Storm, a show I honestly ADORE and since Zag has stated that all properties under the ZagHeroez title share a single universe which means I wanted to show an old point of connection between the two shows.  
> One of the main ‘things’ of the Triangle is that it captures people from different time periods and locations and dumps them in at random points in its OWN ‘pocket dimension’ timeline… basically imagine it as sort of like a TARDIS. Time (overall) passes at a regular rate within the TARDIS herself, even as she hops, skips and jumps about time and space.  
> You can, and do, have characters from the Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Modern Era, and more all kicking about at the same ‘time’…  
> Which is how Tikki and Plagg ended up with a Mesoamerican Ladybug Chosen from Mexico in the 12th century… right along side a Black Cat Chosen from Kansas in the 1930s (yes, that’s what happened to Amelia Earhart in this reality… she really DID get lost in the Bermuda Triangle… ANNNNNND ended up becoming the Black Cat.  
> Also, yes, Tikki WAS implying that Micazoyolin and Amelia used the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculi in conjunction to escape the Bermuda Triangle, but Marinette is not aware of this ability to use the two together yet and thus missed the implication.


	5. Chapter 5

Marinette woke up to Tikki poking her cheek. Marinette cracked an eye open to glare blearily at the red blur that was Tikki. “Whuuuuuuh?”

Tikki held up Marinette’s phone. “You slept through your alarm again.” 

Marinette groaned and buried her face in her pillow for a moment. Ugh. Mornings were EVIL. School was evil too. She froze for a second, eyes snapping open to stare at the fabric of her pillow. 

Tikki was holding her phone. 

She had pictures she’d taken of the spell on her phone. 

Oh NO she didn’t want Tikki to know about that yet! She wanted to go over it carefully and see what the spell would entail and if there were side effects and stuff and come to her own conclusions AND THEN talk to Tikki and Master Fu and Wayzz about it when she could have a reasoned debate instead of being TOLD one way or another. She wanted understanding and above all CONTROL in this, she HATED not having any control. 

Okay. Wait. Deep breaths. 

Tikki didn’t usually look through her phone or computer or anything else without asking first, and every time Tikki HAD done that without asking, she’d had a really good reason why ( _or at least a convincing excuse_ ) after. Marinette was absolutely certain that she hadn’t left the pictures up and had closed her phone’s gallery and camera, so it wouldn’t have been up where Tikki would have seen it when Tikki shut off her alarm. 

So… 

Best to pretend that the pictures didn’t exist and just go through her day, and only bring it up if Tikki asked about it, if Tikki did before Marinette decided to bring it up. 

If she did. A small part of Marinette was wondering if she could find out about possible concerns for the spell without anyone figuring it out and then cast it so that she wouldn’t be talked out of it and convinced that she was better off WITHOUT the missing memories. 

Which she was NOT. She wanted to know what she was missing, thank you VERY much. 

Plus, maybe Chat would want to get his memories back, something that she still had to talk to him about… not so much the ‘do you want to remember’ part but the… ‘are you okay’ part. The ‘do you want to talk about it’ part. She couldn’t keep putting it off. The Black Cat protected the Ladybug, because the Ladybug had the ability to undo harm done… but the Ladybug was supposed to heal the Black Cat, and while she’d been doing a good job of making sure his physical injuries were healed… she hadn’t done anything for the emotional and maybe even mental ‘injuries’. 

The first step was realizing something was wrong and planning to do something to fix it. 

The second step was following through. 

She’d taken the first step. 

She needed to take the second. 

“Marinette, you DO have to wake up and go to school you know.” 

Marinette pushed herself up and out of bed. “Right, sorry, Tikki. Thank you for waking me up. Sorry, just muddled.” 

Tikki smiled and went to put the phone on Marinette’s desk and turned on the water at her sink, filling up the bowl. “It’s alright. Oh, don’t forget that you have to charge your akuma protection necklace today! At least for six hours, although until sunset would be best.” 

Oh shoot, yeah, it was Friday wasn’t it? Marinette stumbled down the stairs to the main floor of her room and pulled her necklace off, laying it down on the geode bowl full of salt. “Hey, Tikki?” 

“Yes, Marinette?” 

“How does this… I mean why the geode? Why the salt?” 

“Quartz, especially clear and white quartz, absorbs, stores, releases and regulates energy. The shape of a crystal determines how it releases energy, with points sending all the energy out in a beam… like a flashlight. A geode is made up of lots of clusters of points, all facing inwards. So, a quartz geode will absorb energy from around it and direct that energy into its center, charging anything you put inside it. As for the salt… well that’s just purification. Salt, clean running water and fire are the true purifiers. You fill the geode with salt that means that anything you put in will be purified as well as recharged.” 

“Oh. That makes sense. …Do I… need to know about crystals and shapes and all that kind of stuff?” 

Tikki giggled. “No, unless you want to become a Guardian or something.” 

Marinette laughed. “No thank you! That’d be way too much of my time I’d lose, and I may be okay with being Ladybug and a hero, I want to have a LIFE of my own, do my own thing, be a fashion designer, stuff like that.” 

Tikki nodded. She watched as Marinette brushed her teeth and washed her face, then looked at the necklace and frowned slightly. “You’ll be careful today, won’t you? You’ll do you best to stay calm and upbeat?” 

Marinette smiled as she brushed her hair and bound it into her usual pigtails. “I promise I will. Although… well, between the ‘off-radar’ protection I get from you, my good luck, and the fact that I haven’t ever been targeted before… even when I got SUPER worked up, like with Lila making the moves on my Adrien or stuff Chloé’s done… I should be okay. The necklace is just an extra layer of protection. It’s a NICE layer of protection, and extra protection is ALWAYS a good thing… but me not having it doesn’t mean I’m in more danger than I was before… I’m just back to how things were last week.” 

Tikki blinked. “That’s true. I guess I kind of liked you having the extra ‘armor’… and taunting Murphy is always a bad idea so-” 

“Wait, you know about Murphey’s Law??!” 

“Of course I do.” 

“HOW?! Isn’t it from, like, the 50s? I thought there weren’t active superheroes, or at least not you and Plagg, since before that? Doesn’t that mean you wouldn’t know that? …Wait were there SECRET superheroes?!” 

“…I knew about cell phones and airplanes and computers and the internet and everything else, why does Murphy’s Law surprise you?” 

…Marinette had no answer for THAT. 

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Adrien was relieved when lunchbreak rolled around. He went home and ate, and his bodyguard came up with an excuse – that he had a fair bit of catchup to do at school and he was planning on working on it in the school library – for him to be able to leave as soon as he ate and helped him convince his father and Natalie. 

So now he sat in the Library, the Gorilla sitting next to him looking his school work over, while Plagg relaxed in his school bag, eating a few rounds of camembert. 

He glanced around the library and, not seeing anyone and knowing Plagg and the Glamour would give him protection he looked up at his bodyguard. 

**::Do you:: … ::Are you angry that I call you, that Nino and I called you ‘the Gorilla’ instead of M. C.H.A.P.L.I.N?::**

M. Chaplin blinked, then smirked. **::Do you want to know my name sign? My wife came up with it and always thought it was the cleverest thing ever.::**

Adrien blinked, then nodded. **::Yes. I would like to know.::**

M. Chaplin smirked and made two letter Cs, one with each hand, right in front of his chest… then made fists and rapidly tapped his chest, then made the Cs again. 

Adrien laughed, tried to get his laughter under control… and M. Chaplin just did ‘ **double C, gorilla, double C** ’ again… and Adrien broke into laughter again, laughing hard enough to almost fall out of his chair. 

“R-really?!” Adrien gasped. 

M. Chaplin nodded with a smile. **::She always thought it was the cleverest thing, and I still like it today. So, no, I am not angry that you two called me that instead of my name. There was a divide between you and I as well, as there should be in most circumstances::**

Adrien managed to get his laughter under control and took a few deep breaths. **::Sorry. I just was not expecting that.::**

 **::Most people do not.::**

Adrien glanced at his phone, but he still had some time before he needed to go transform and go on a short patrol with Ladybug. **::So you::** … **::You really have known-::**

 **::Since early October, yes. Once I did… you and Plagg rely too heavily on the Glamour, I think. At least with me. Although that might be that Plagg knew. Who knows with magic.::**

Adrien thought back to the first day of November, with Copycat, and how he’d acted, and jumped on the car, and just pretended that he’d spent the last few hours looking for his phone in the gym’s locker room. “Oh darn.” 

**::But now that you know that I know, you do not have to take such risks. You can let me help you, but you must do your best to let me know when you are going, and when you come back. If you think you need a way to call for help while you are transformed, I can buy a burner phone. I have been out and about and working in the world longer than you have been alive. I have advice, or at least protection.::**

Adrien gulped. **::For Ladybug too?::**

**::Yes. Although doing that would mean letting her know that I am in on the secret, which would mean she likely would figure out who you are.::**

Adrien blinked, then buried his face in his hands and groaned before looking back up. **::I knew that. I just forgot.::**

**::We will cross that bridge when we get to it. For now...::**

Adrien’s phone buzzed. 

**::Go on patrol. Come back to the library when you are done.::**

Adrien nodded and scooped Plagg up and out of his bag, stuffing the kwami ( _and the round of cheese he was grimly holding onto and still eating_ ) into the interior pocket of his over shirt before heading towards the nearest bathroom and stepping into the stall with the loose ceiling tile. There, now it was just a matter of transforming and going through the duct work to the roof, then he could meet up with Ladybug. 

…Meet up with her for the first time in over a week, for him, although Ladybug wouldn’t know that. It was going to be really nice to transform and everything. 

“Have a nice talk?” Plagg asked, smirking up at Adrien from his pocket. 

Adrien smirked back at his kwami. “So, did you REALLY get found out by mistake while you were getting cheese?” 

“…You are NEVER going to let me live that down, are you?” 

“Nope!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My cousin-in-law Charles (the bodyguard I use to add depth to the Gorilla) also uses the ‘C to gorilla to C’ as well for his name sign. He thinks it’s the funniest/best thing and LOVES it so I used it for my fics with his permission ^_^.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character suffering from a panic attack in chapter, please be aware before reading on.

For the first time in a week, he felt truly – fully – safe.

Being mostly invulnerable was a part of it. So was the heightened senses, heightened strength and agility, and Plagg’s steady presence in the back of his mind. Another set of eyes and ears, even if Plagg could only give him subconscious prompts. 

Plus, Plagg could do several last-ditch methods of keeping him from dying from an allergy attack, and other stuff, like maybe countering this stupid ‘here then gone again then here again’ cold that he was trying to stave off. 

Chat leapt over the rooftops of Paris, shoulders relaxing as the tension slowly bled out of him. 

The sun was shining, the day was warm, and he was going to see his Lady. 

He landed on the roof of Notre Dame and walked along it, smiling when he saw Ladybug waiting for him. He wanted to run up to her, hug her, tell her everything that had happened and just be safe and protected and held until the shaking went away. He couldn’t do that with Nino and Alya, not really. They were civilians and he was a hero and it was his job to protect them and he couldn’t… really… let himself forget that. That applied to M. Chaplin as well, even though his bodyguard was an adult and a father and had seen bad stuff happen where Alya and Nino hadn’t. He got that the world wasn’t safe, that the heroes didn’t always win… but he wasn’t a hero, not like Chat and Ladybug. Adrien didn’t really know Master Fu yet, and Plagg… Plagg got all of it, but Plagg was small and lazy and while he could press up against Adrien and purr, there were no hugs. 

…And Chat really needed a hug from someone who understood AND wasn’t someone he had to protect but instead was his equal. 

But he couldn’t. 

Because keeping their identities secret was important to Ladybug, and he WOULD respect that, and there was no way to tell her why he so desperately needed a hug without explaining the whole ‘Chat Noir wasn’t me last week it was a friend because I was the person who got kidnapped that you were trying to rescue’. 

So instead of rushing up and hugging Ladybug and crying into her shoulder until he felt better, Chat Noir plastered on a smile and swept into a gallant bow. 

“My Lady. As ever I look to you as if you were my sun.” 

Ladybug’s nose crinkled up. “You said that with Spy. Do you REALLY squint at me and stuff? Because I haven’t seen you squint at me.” 

“No, I would never! It’s… uh, you know I don’t know where the expression is from?” he wasn’t going to admit that he’d looked up romantic phrases and memorized them because that was how flirting worked according to anime and film and it wasn’t like he had… any… experience in making friends or interacting with people his own age, let alone flirting. “It’s… uh, I thought it was about how the sun is radiant and beautiful and brings light and life and joy to everything and that’s what I meant?” 

Ladybug blinked a few times, considering that, then slowly nodded. “Oh. Okay. I guess?” She gave her head a shake. “Actually, I’ve got a lot of stuff I wanted to talk about.” 

Chat nodded. “Okay. What kind of stuff?” 

Ladybug opened her mouth, then closed it, biting her lip before shaking her head. “Could we start patrol? I… I think better when I’m moving. I hate standing still.” 

“Sure, LB.” 

She smiled and took off, heading south west at what was, for them, a leisurely pace. Chat Noir followed her, waiting patiently for her to figure out what she wanted to say and how, focusing on small things like how nice it was to feel the sun and the wind, how nice it was to move freely and openly, how nice it was to- 

“I’m worried about how Shadowhawk is still out there.” 

“Shadowhawk?” …oh WAIT shoot, Nino’d told him about her but he’d thought… “Oh no… you didn’t capture her akuma?” 

Ladybug gave him a weird look over her shoulder. “I never had a chance, Chat. She just… vanished. The Reset took us out of the catacombs with Adrien and by the time I realized what had really happened and tried to go back…” 

“She was gone,” Chat realized. 

Ladybug nodded. “I guess you looked for her too, after, huh? So, she’s got to still be out there, right? What other option is there?!” 

“Probably. Although… didn’t Sans Sheriff say something about ‘standing down’?” Realizing what he’d just admitted, he scrambled to tack on, “Or at least, Nino and Alya mentioned her saying that. In the classroom. Before I got there.” 

“Okay, great, but what does that MEAN?” 

“I dunno… we could ask our kwamis? And we can go over places we saw her and talk to Alya about a map and stuff like that?” 

“Like how we first figured out how to do patrols, back in September? That… should work. Better than nothing. I’m just really worried because she’s one of those akumatized that specializes in tracking and those… are always a bad thing.” 

Chat nodded. “They are. I’m just glad Papillon pretty much doesn’t seem to like them much himself. It’s almost like… he doesn’t really care who we are, when we aren’t masked… he wants to draw us out, take our Miraculous but he never seems to try to find out who we are.” 

“Except for Lady Wifi.” 

“Except for Lady Wifi, but that might be ‘cause it’s what Alya wanted instead of what he wanted? Why else didn’t he let her take your earrings when she had you pinned? Why the whole weird plan? He’s never really done anything like that since.” 

“…I guess that’s true. …and it’s not like Shadowhawk was STEALTHY or anything. And there’ve been no reports of large clouds of akuma or people being turned into Shadowhawk statues so at least it isn’t a repeat of Stoneheart. Wherever she is, whatever happened… she isn’t out tracking like she was before, and I guess she’s still akumatized or something, since no army.” She sighed. “At least we can ask our kwamis for advice, see if they know about this sort of thing.” 

Oh SHOOT! 

Chat Noir stumbled his landing on a rooftop, and Ladybug stopped a rooftop or two ahead, turning around to frown at him in worry. 

“Ladybug, wait a second, there’s something…” his cat-ears pinned down flat to his hair. Was he supposed to not tell her? Was he not allowed to tell her? …No, this was something vital, she HAD to know as soon as possible, and a secret this big between them… he couldn’t see how it could end in anything but hurt, betrayal and rage. “There’s something I gotta tell you.” 

Ladybug walked back quickly, reaching over to put a hand on his shoulder when he didn’t immediately continue. “What is it, Chat?” 

“There’s… there’s a person who knows about the Miraculous here in Paris. I mean really knows, he’s the one who GAVE US our Miraculi and everything.” 

Ladybug gasped, eyes going wide. 

“I only just found out yesterday, at lunch! My kwami said I had to meet him because…” No, he couldn’t say why, could he? “Because of stuff that’s happening in my civilian life. I’m still kinda wrapping my head around it, and I’m used to it being just us, you know? You, Plagg, your kwami, and me.” He looked around, getting his bearings. “He lives in the eight arrondissement, I can take you there right now so you can meet him, if we stay focused and careful no one’ll notice us and cameras won’t record us so he’ll be safe from people figuring out he knows superheroes, and-” 

“I… I already met Master Fu.” 

Chat leaned back sharply, shocked. “You have?!” a sudden pit opened up in his stomach. “How… how long have you known?” Keeping their identities secret was one thing… this was something totally different. Had Ladybug known the whole time? Would she have never told him unless he’d brought it up? Would- 

“No, no, it’s not-! I haven’t known for- I only JUST found out and I was… I found out just this last week! I found a book on the miraculous and kwamis and chosen and all sorts of things when I was following Adrien- I mean-! No, that isn’t-!!” 

The… the book on- HIS FATHER’S book?! Had… had Ladybug stolen the book from Lila? Had she been following Lila not to confront her but to get the book?! That would explain why Ladybug had been so weirdly over the top and overly aggressive and… …and that meant that the reason he’d gotten kidnapped, because he’d gone looking for the missing book, was all for- The book had been long gone? And he couldn’t say ANYTHING, couldn’t ask why or how without revealing that he was Adrien and- 

Ladybug must have seen the panic and horror in his eyes, although she probably couldn’t guess the source, and she put her hands on his shoulders, her eyes earnest. “I was following where Adrien had been, after he was kidnapped. Tikki saw the book – I wasn’t transformed – and went into full panic mode and said we had to grab it right then and there. So I snuck up close and Tikki phased in and grabbed the book and brought it to me. We took it to Master Fu, and he said that there was a lot of information that we couldn’t risk ANYONE seeing or knowing, plus magic in the book itself. So he kept it. I think he’s got it hidden away like he does the Miraculous Box. I would have told you but I forgot because I was so distracted and worried about Adrien being kidnapped, and…” Ladybug caught his face in her hands, making him look at her. “Whoa, okay. Breathe, Minou. Deep breaths… that’s it. I’m sorry, if I’d known keeping this a secret would hurt you this much I would have told you right away. I just… wasn’t thinking. …Deep breath. Now another.” 

Chat clung to her hands, closing his eyes. He couldn’t… couldn’t tell her that it wasn’t the secret – it was the memories of his time kidnapped, bubbling up and dragging at him, still far too fresh and raw for him. So instead he focused on Ladybug’s voice, her hands, her scent. Focused on his breathing and the heat of the sun baking into his back. Focused on it until the memories faded back, until the world came back into focus. 

Maybe he wasn’t as okay as he’d told everybody he was. 

He opened his eyes, and was surprised to find himself on his knees, Ladybug kneeling in front of him, still cupping his face in her hands. He saw the guilt in her eyes and gulped. “Not… not the secret.” He closed his eyes again. She’d see the lie in his eyes for the next part if he didn’t. “I’m okay-” 

“No, you’re not,” Ladybug’s voice said sharply. 

That got a smile out of him. “Kay… I’m… I’m not okay right now, but I will be. But it’s not the secrets, Ladybug. I promise. I… I’ve had a lot of really, really, REALLY bad stuff happen and… and I thought I was doing okay but the kidnapping just… just brought it all back and it’s overwhelming and when you started talking about it, it all came back all at once. …not the secrets. You musta been really distracted too, it’s okay you didn’t think to tell me.” 

Ladybug’s thumbs ran over his cheeks and she tilted his chin up a bit. “Chat, can you look at me?” 

Chat Noir opened his eyes, and Ladybug smiled for a moment before the frown of worry came back. “I don’t know what’s going on, and if it’s real life stuff… we’re supposed to keep it a secret but…. But if you need to talk and think you can do it without revealing who you are, then I can listen. …and if you need it enough, tell me and we’ll both go to Master Fu and… he gave us our Miraculous, he knows who we are. He’s really wise and smart and kind and stuff, he can help, I know it. If it’s superhero stuff… I know-” Ladybug bit her lip. “I know that being controlled hurts you. Has hurt you. Is still hurting you. I know you probably don’t want to talk about it with me yet, maybe not ever with me, but we’ve got Master Fu now and… and I am here for you, okay? I’m willing to listen and help. I wasn’t before but I am now. Okay?” 

“You… you would?” 

Ladybug smiled and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “Of course I am, Minou. We’re partners. Partners are there for each other.” 

Chat smiled weakly at that and leaned back slightly, and Ladybug let go of him. He sat down on the rooftop and scrubbed at his eyes, embarrassed to find his cheeks soaked with tears. “Sorry. I don’t-” 

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Ladybug said, sitting down next to him so that their shoulders just brushed. “You’ve been dealing with it alone for a while. Too long a while. Should have realized something was wrong before it ended up with you crying and hyperventilating on a rooftop. I AM sorry about not telling you about Master Fu – I know you said it wasn’t that, but I’m still sorry – I just forgot, and Tikki said I should wait, though I don’t remember why now.” 

Because Tikki’d known Chat Noir was Chat NINOir at the time, Chat realized. Plagg must have told Tikki, and they probably hadn’t wanted to risk giving the plan away or having it fall apart more than it had by that point. 

“She must’ve had a really good reason. And… it wasn’t the secret, my Lady, honest. Just… Just lots of other stuff I can’t talk about cause of identities… and some superhero stuff that I don’t think I know how to talk about yet.” 

Ladybug nodded. “Okay. Then we can talk about it when you want. But I’ll be here for you, okay? Just like you’re here for me.” 

“You know that you can too, right?” 

Ladybug blinked at him, visibly confused. 

“Talk to me, I mean. No reveal, honest, I’m not asking. …but if you need to talk about Soldier, or Mnemosyne or ANYTHING else… I’m here for you too.” 

He smiled when she bumped her shoulder against his. “I’m not the one who just had a panic attack. …but… thanks, Chaton. If I need to talk about it, I’ll remember, I promise.” 

“Okay.” Chat Noir took a deep, slow breath in, then got to his feet. “I kinda want to finish the patrol, if that’s okay? I just… want to move for a bit?” 

“Oh, I understand THAT,” Ladybug said, getting to her feet as well. She pulled her yoyo off her hip and checked the time. “Hm, not much time left though. Want to swing back towards the school? We can take it fairly slow, just relax and stuff.” 

“That sounds really nice, actua-” a flash of blue caught his attention from the very edge of his line of sight, and Chat’s attention snapped away from Ladybug towards it. 

There was someone leaping from rooftop to rooftop, heading roughly north-east. Someone wearing a blue… tux? dress suit? with a green feather cape billowing behind him. 

“Ladybug!” 

There was another Champion. That didn’t look ANYTHING like the description Nino’d given him for Shadowhawk! 

“Oh shoot, it’s the Peacock Chosen!” 

“The WHAAAAAAAT?!” 

“Your kwami might not have remembered to tell you yet or maybe he didn’t realize that the energy he felt was what it was, Tikki didn’t at first, but it’s not another akumatized like we thought-” 

Like they… Nino had FORGOTTEN to TELL HIM about there BEING A ‘SECOND AKUMATIZED’?! What else had he not been told!? 

“-but the it’s the Peacock Chosen and I’ll fill you in later but we’ve got to catch up to him and see if he’s on our side or if it’s just another trap by Papillon! Come on!!” 

And with that Ladybug was off, and Chat Noir followed in her wake… 

But it was obvious that the Peacock Chosen had spotted them, because he sped up and raced to, of all places, Notre Dame - landing on the roof and dropping out of sight over the edge. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir landed on the roof a mere second later, but when they looked over the edge, there was no sign of someone in a blue suit and green cape in the milling crowd, or even an indication that anyone had noticed anything. 

“He must have de-transformed.” 

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t help us narrow it down at ALL,” Ladybug groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because Adrien has had a LOT building up on him lately. Not just the kidnapping, although that IS the straw that broke the camel’s back. But in canon Adrien’s had a LOT piled up on him and he’s really got no one to turn to or to help him out like Marinette does.
> 
>  
> 
> Ladybug accidently bringing up a recent and severe trauma triggered this, but she kept her head and helped him calm down and followed through on her promise from back in Sans Sheriff to help Chat and talk to him.
> 
>  
> 
> Now he knows that he’s got someone he can really trust to try and start getting this sorted out. Not everything, as Mari STILL doesn’t want to do a reveal, and he understands and respects that… but she’s pointed out that he can talk to Fu (and by extension – though she doesn’t know it – Alya, Nino and Charles) about the things he can’t talk to her about.
> 
>  
> 
> And if Ladybug finds herself needing to talk, she knows that Chat’s there for her too.
> 
>  
> 
> Mutual support and care for the win!!!
> 
>  
> 
> Also… Mari was 100% planning on telling Chat about Master Fu, she just needed to sort out how to tell him and what not to tell him and she thinks better when she’s moving. The conversation just kind of got away from her, and then she had to deal with Chat having a severe panic attack. Indeed, the ONLY reason she didn’t tell Chat during the whole Shadowhawk fiasco was primarily due to Tikki nudging and distracting her – because Tikki knew that Chat was currently Nino and Tikki didn’t want Nino to know about Master Fu… I mean PLAGG undermined that, but Tikki is much stricter about that than Plagg.
> 
>  
> 
> Yes, this means there won’t be the ‘betrayal and issues’ subplot from season 2 in this fic series. There is also none of that moronic ‘only Marinette is allowed to know about Master Fu’ NOR any of the stupidity of Master Fu being reduced to a Pez dispenser instead of a WISE MENTOR. I HATE characters and plots being undercut, and I hate it more for hamfisted ‘drama’. I don’t like ‘Bad Communication Kills’ trope unless it’s something that MAKES SENSE for the characters involved and there is a good reason for it.
> 
>  
> 
> Which the show did NOT have
> 
>  
> 
> At all
> 
>  
> 
> So good riddance to bad rubbish.


	7. Chapter 7

The rest of the school day was quiet enough, even if Marinette was distracted with worrying about Chat Noir. She wished he’d told her that he’d had something similar to kidnapping happen to him in the past and that searching for Adrien was messing with him.

…Okay, maybe she wouldn’t have been in the best frame of mind to listen to him, but she would have known and Tikki could have talked sense into her later. 

On top of that was the fact that Chat had admitted, pretty much flat out, that he went to Collège Françoise Dupont. Granted he’d just stopped crying and hyperventilating so badly he hadn’t seemed to have heard her while she’d tried to help him calm down so… forgivable circumstances, so far as Marinette was concerned. 

But still… Chat went to her school. She’d found herself glancing up every time someone with blond hair had walked by, wondering if this was Chat, or if that was Chat. It’d made PE, Music and Foreign Language 1 fly past though, and had distracted her from Lila – who still had her cap set at Adrien – openly flirting with him, despite how tense and OFF Adrien still was. 

Ugh. She needed a distraction. It’d be an hour or two before Nadja dropped Manon off for the night and that was far too long to stew in her own juices. 

“Tikki?” 

“Yes, Marinette?” Tikki said, looking up from where she was watching TVi, something about wanting to check a theory Plagg had heard… although given Chat was friends with Alya and Nino now, Marinette had a feeling that the ‘theory’ was the one Nino had about TVi being… off. It was kinda weird, almost creepy, how her two lives were blending and mixing together now. No longer was it ‘Marinette’ on one side, and all the stuff she did while wearing the mask on the other, with the only crossover being that it was Marinette wearing the mask, and sometimes she’d have to help or fight people she knew. 

“Master Fu mentioned what my, uh well I guess ‘bug theme’ abilities would be, but he didn’t really go into detail and what it all meant.” 

Tikki flew over to sit on the monitor of Marinette’s monitor. “Well, the sticking to walls and ceilings thing is pretty obvious-” she paused while Marinette giggled, smiling before continuing, “-although there are naturally some limitations. If the surface is sheer, like a window, you’re not going to be able to stick just like a real insect wouldn’t. If the surface can’t hold up your weight, like ceiling tiles, you’re going to break it and fall.” 

“That makes sense,” Marinette said, nodding. “And FLYING?” because that sounded aMAZing and she couldn’t wait. 

Tikki giggled again. “Basically, you will have wings form in some way. Some of my Chosen had it where they had a cape or the like that split and became wings, some had wings just as part of their – hm – costume… but most would have the wings materialize and then fade away when not in use. There’s a slight delay if you have the cape-or-something or materialization, but usually it’s not an issue, especially since you can still use your yoyo how you were before.” 

“So, am I faster and stuff when I fly?” 

“Welllll… Ladybugs aren’t exactly… known… for being fast flyers. You’ll be about as fast as you are when you’re swinging around on your yoyo, but you’ll be able to travel in a straight line so you will technically cover more distance in the same amount of time. It won’t be as fast as when you slingshot yourself though. You’ll be able to hover and use your yoyo, or yoyos if you split it, for defense or attack or the like. It’s an advantage, but not a massive one.” 

DARN. Ah, well, it was still FLYING. Even if it wasn’t super-fast superman flying or something. 

…She TOTALLY was going to practice flying in the superman pose though. 

Because Superman. 

…She was NOT humming the theme song under her breath. Nope. Not in the slightest. 

“What about the enhanced senses thing?” 

“Oh, that’s just like what Chat has. Real ladybugs can sense sounds and scents and magnetic and electric fields after all, mostly with their antennae. So just like Chat gets most of his extra senses from his fake ears, you’d get them from fake antennae… Most Ladybugs have some type of head gear or ribbons that function for that. You’ll probably need a few days to get used to everything, just like Chat Noir had a rough few days when he first got his Miraculous.” 

“So… the ribbons on my pigtails then?” 

“If your costume doesn’t change, then y-” 

“What do you meant ‘if my costume doesn’t change’?! I can CHANGE my costume!?” 

Tikki blinked. “Well… yes, of course, why wouldn’t you be able to change it to a greater or lesser degree? It IS what you subconsciously willed it to be, after all. There are a few GUIDELINES that come with it, a sort of overlaying theme if you will… but most of it is what you wanted. …Well, you didn’t actually have much of an idea of your costume when you first transformed, so I just went with basic ‘hero’ as you considered it, but-” 

“Why didn’t you TELL ME the costume was what I – that I could CHANGE it?!” 

“…Do you want to change it?” 

“Of COURSE I want to! IT IS SO PLAIN, TIKKI! I want to be a fashion designer and I have been running around in a FOOTED ONESIE for most of a YEAR. I don’t have POCKETS, Tikki. POCKETS ARE NEEDED!!” 

Marinette scrambled around and took her sketch pad and pencil up to her rooftop balcony and began sketching, designing and redesigning her costume. 

Tikki just hovered in place, blinking in bemusement before she finally giggled and went back to watching the TV. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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Adrien curled up under his blankets, looking at his clock. Okay. He had about three hours before the ‘Face to Face’ show that Ladybug and he were going to do an interview for. He was still wrung out from everything that had happened recently, so getting a two-hour nap would be the best bet, and that gave him time to fall asleep as well as time to wake up, get ready and get over to the show. Adrien’s eyes drifted from the clock to the desktop, and from there to the necklace that Master Fu had left him, and with a frown he got up and picked it up off the counter, putting it on and tucking it under his shirt. 

“What’d you do that for?” Plagg asked from where he was sitting by Adrien’s computer, eating is way through three rounds of camembert. 

“If Père looks in, or Natalie or one of the maids, they might see it. If I wear it they probably won’t… and this way I can’t be akumatized in my sleep.” 

“Couldn’t be akumatized in your sleep anyway,” Plagg said. “And don’t go thinking the necklace is perfect, it’s got weak points and isn’t as kickass as me.” 

Adrien smiled. “Of course it isn’t as awesome as you, Plagg.” He got back into the bed while Plagg preened at the compliment. He frowned, rubbing the necklace through the fabric of his shirt. “Plagg?” 

“Yeah, kid?” 

“You said the necklace wasn’t perfect… what’d you mean by that?” 

Plagg finished his first wheel of cheese and hmmmed slightly. “Well… while it MOSTLY keeps anybody who wears it ‘off the radar’ like I can… just like with me strong enough emotions can ping ol’ butterfly butt’s empathic abilities.” 

Adrien nodded. “Does that mean you don’t have to do your radar trick while I’m wearing it?” 

Plagg chuckled. “It’s not a trick, not like me messing with records. I’m a quantic kami, kid, just by existing and claiming you as my own I keep you pretty much off the radar. …It’s Grapes and Nino and the Gorilla and his kid I have to pay attention and work t’ protect. …and THAT I don’t have to do while they’re wearing the necklaces.” 

“It was nice of Master Fu to give Monsieur Chaplin a necklace for Claude to wear.” He wished he could have gotten necklaces for his father and Natalie… and he knew Nino and Alya had wanted some for their families too. But Master Fu had been right that there was no way for them to explain it to their parents (or parent figures) and siblings (for those who had them)… plus Master Fu just didn’t HAVE that many necklaces. 

But Claude… 

Claude’s mom, M. Chaplin’s wife, had been killed during some type of ‘troubles’ when Claude was 3, when something had been blown up. It’d killed her and deafened Claude in one ear, and… well, if you lost someone in that horrible a way and they were the only family you had left… 

Adrien got why Master Fu had given M. Chaplin the extra necklace with such a soft, sad, expression. He would have done the same. He frowned as he went over what Plagg had said. “Wait, if Papillon can still pickup really strong emotions, then-?” 

“He can still send out an akuma targeted at you just like he can anybody else, although he won’t be able to pick up your surface thoughts or memories from a distance like he usually can.” Plagg tossed one of the two remaining wheels of camembert up and got the whole mess in his mouth in one snap of his jaws. “Buh th’ necklsh will preveh him fr’m beingh able tuh akumatish yuh buhcaush-” Plagg finished chewing and swallowed. “-because it’ll act like a dreamcatcher or spirit trap or witch ball will and’ll catch and bind the akuma.” 

“That sounds good,” Adrien said with a yawn, wiggling his way deeper under the covers. “What’s the catch?” 

Because there was always a catch. 

Plagg smirked. “The catch is that the necklace catching the akuma makes the necklace a kinda talisman, and that means that Papillon can still offer you the deal… and you can still accept the deal… even if the Butterfly’s ability for telepathic communication’d be spotty and he won’t be able to really see through your eyes and hear what you hear and feel what you feel, or read your memories or thoughts – though he’d still pick up surface stuff. And-” 

Plagg stopped to eat his way through the last wheel with messy, noisy, bites. Adrien smiled sleepily, knowing Plagg was drawing it out for the kwami’s own sense of personal drama. He waited until Plagg was on the last bite or two before speaking up, trying to sound like he was really worked up by the drama. 

No sense ruining Plagg’s fun. 

“And?” 

Plagg finished the last few bites and flew over to curl up on Adrien’s temple, making Adrien crinkle his nose at the smell. Ugh. Smelly cheese was the worst. 

“And the necklace isn’t a perfect trap. The akuma CAN escape it if there’s a flaw in the stone or the like. Plus in order to get it out so it can be purified, the butterfly stone has ta be shattered and then you have to catch it before it gets away. Basically, kid, it’s protection, but it’s not perfect.” 

Adrien nodded. “Plagg?” 

“Yeah, kid?” 

“What’s the Butterfly supposed to be like? I don’t really see how it could be used for good guy stuff.” 

“Well… the Butterfly is the ‘Distant General of Champions’. Life ain’t always sunshine and roses, kid. You know that. Sometimes you’ve gotta fight. Maybe you’re fighting monsters. Maybe evil spirits. Maybe other people. But being able to give powers to people involved in whatever’s going on so that they can fight the good fight…. Well, that’s just what the Guardians do, ‘cept they hand out Miraculi an hope for the best. ‘S what Fu did with you and the Buglet, ain’t it?” 

Adrien frowned, considering that. “So, is people not remembering just cause Papillon’s misusing it?” 

“…No. Everything has a trade-off. If you accept the Butterfly’s deal, the trade-off for phenomenal cosmic powers, powers that rival those of us kwami, is that you don’t get to remember it when you aren’t all Championed up. You also gotta at least MOSTLY follow the Butterfly’s orders.” 

Adrien closed his eyes. “What about the dream logic and emotions being amped up?” 

“That’s mostly from Papillon overcharging the akuma. Think about Spy, or what Nino and I told ya about Shadowhawk.” 

“…What d’ you mean ‘bout overcharged?” 

“I’ll tell you when you wake up. Go to sleep, kid. You’re running on empty.” 

Adrien smiled. “Promise?” 

“I promise. Now shut up and sleep.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, a reminder that I watched the Korean version of Origins 1 & 2 a full six months before I saw it in English and a full year before I saw it in French, and as a result I had gotten used to the idea of Nooroo being female, and she is thus in my fics.   
> And as a new reminder, I am using male pronouns and a non-canon name for the Peacock kwami both on purpose and for a very vital plot reason.. and I’d come up with these factors during the hiatus, before Duusu was really revealed in any way.   
> In another new reminder, Trixx is using female pronouns as she SEEMS to be using in the English dub, and was referred to in some of the preproduction material/official comments/convention comments and my using female pronouns is, like Regaal/the Peacock kwami, actually going to be a plot point in the future.

Papillon stared up at the vaulted ceiling of the gallery, listening to the soft rush of water below, and considered the massive butterfly window built into the back wall above the altar and high-tech capsule with its precious cargo. He sighed and walked to the other side of the room, where he had an odd mix of folding card tables, trestle tables and dining tables set up. On one of the trestle tables was a box of energy drinks for Nooroo and a mix of food and drink that did not require refrigeration for himself. On most of the other tables were necklaces – gaudy affairs of gems and stones and bright metals, behind the ear cuff-earrings that seemed to be using hearing aids as a base mixed with more gems and metals, statues and geodes and slabs of iron and salt, glass globes, as well as a handful of talismans and amulets.

It was a strange collection of items stolen by Shadowhawk from the people who had kidnapped Adrien, and stolen by Papillon himself from the police while they transported items or from evidence lockers; transported in bursts with his ensorcelled diamond from where Shadowhawk had secreted them away to this old family gallery. 

Transportations that had drained his stone almost dry, it had only three teleportations left at the moment, if that. Frowning, Papillon took the pink marquis-cut diamond out of his left pocket and walked over to the old, scared dining table, where he had a bed of malachite, moonstone, tiger’s eye, angelite and black tourmaline set in a large half geode of smoky quartz. He put the diamond on the stones and fussed with the pentagon made of feathers, mint leaves and sage leaves. He lit the black, orange, blue, white and purple candles at each of the 5 points of the pentagon. 

There. It would take a day, but now this most useful resource would be recharged and ready for him, and while it would take him longer to get to and from, he did have secret – if mundane – ways of returning to his house unseen from the gallery. 

That matter sorted, he reached into the right pocket of his suit’s jacket and pulled out a red audio recorder with black spots and placed it down on the table, then took three carefully measured steps back. “Nooroo, destransform me.” 

Purple and silver light crawled up Papillon and Gabriel took a slow, deep, breath in then sighed deeply, staring at the items that were arrayed before him. He walked over to the audio recorder and picked it up, considering it with a scowl while Nooroo flew over to drink one of the cans of Redbull. “How vexing.” 

“Master?” 

“To have something as powerful, as… terrifying… as this. To have it quite literally in my hand. …and to know that I have no way to safely test it. My searching of the scans and pictures I took from the Grimoire indicates that my suspicions were well founded, and that since the magic power is now provided by Ladybug and not myself, the words of control recorded would control me. …And even if I were to find sufficient hearing protection… it is not as if I could pluck someone off the street to experiment upon.” 

“You could not?” 

Gabriel looked sharply at Nooroo, but she just stared at him with nothing in her expression but simple curiosity. 

“No, I could not.” 

“But you akumatize people, and your Champions put people at risk, and often even result in death or other trauma.” 

“I am aware of that, but no harm remains so long as Ladybug uses her restoration or so long as I would be able to gain control of her Miraculous within an hour of the battle. Were there not a reset, my strategies would be vastly different. I do not want death, true death, on my hands. Not even of those who oppose me.” 

“By that argument, the person you capture and experiment on would be acceptable, Master.” 

“No.” 

“Why?” 

“Because that person would be controlled, a thrall with no will, until such time as I gave Ladybug the recorder. …and simply from a practical standpoint, that would not be worth it. I would have a millstone that would be no true use to me who would have to be ordered through even the most menial and mundane of tasks. A millstone I could not free myself of, as that would reveal what I was doing and would allow Ladybug and Chat Noir to prepare. And who knows how long it would take to use the recorder to control Ladybug and Chat Noir to get their Miraculi, which would allow me to use the Ladybug miraculous to use this Lucky Charm to summon a restoration that would impact any and all impacted by it.” Gabriel huffed and put the recorder down. “And all that only if it actually worked. No, this is a matter best shelved for the time being until I discover a way to safely test it.” 

Nooroo fell silent, drinking her Red Bull as she mulled over the twisty ball of snakes that was her Master’s logic, staring at her drink as he walked over behind her to examine the odd collection of jewelry, statues and geodes that Shadowhawk had stolen for him, and others that her Master had stolen from museums, police lock up and even private homes. 

The mentality that any cruel action or harsh result did not truly matter so long as the Restoration was in play was one that she had seen before. Most often from those who used the Ladybeetle miraculous, but also from allies and enemies who fought while the Restoration was ‘on the table’ so to speak. For matters of the physical, it made sense. But matters of the mind and soul were another matter, for the restoration did nothing for those. 

Her Master suddenly vanished from the world. 

“Master!?” Nooroo yelped, taking to the air and spinning around to look where he had been just a moment before- 

He was still there, standing amidst the statues and geodes the kidnappers had been using to line the perimeter of the rooms they’d had. 

Nooroo blinked and stared at her Master, who stared back at her calmly, slowly raising his eyebrows in silent question. 

She could see him, could feel the bond they shared, which pointed right to him, but she could not sense his mind or emotions. 

“Nooroo.” 

“I… I can not sense you, Master.” 

Her Master frowned, and walked towards her and – “Oh!” – the moment he moved away from the geodes and statues, she could sense him again. 

“Hmm. Odd, I could still sense your emotions and the emotions of others when I was within the… zone… these items create. …Nooroo, come here.” 

Nooroo put her can of Red Bull down on the table, then flew over to her Master, hands clasped before her as she waited for his orders. 

“I want you to go into the center of the geodes with me and see if you can still sense your akuma, and more importantly if you think our ability to control and speak to the akuma and my Champions will work from within. If this causes you harm or discomfort, inform me. If this limits your abilities in any way, inform me. If this weakens the bonds crafted by the Miraculous in any way, inform me. If you think of anything of import, inform me.” 

“Yes, Master.” 

They entered the circle created by the geodes and statues, and Nooroo closed her eyes, carefully considering what she could sense. Her Master did the same, raising one hand as if to try to feel the magic or space created by it. 

She could still sense her akuma, although it was perhaps a trifle muted, as if they were further away than they truly were. She could sense the emotions of the people of Paris, about the same as she usually could – at least she could sense no difference there. She could also feel the akuma that was attuned to - and remaining with - the woman who had become Shadowhawk, although that too was slightly muted. “Master?” 

“Yes, Nooroo?” 

“Could you… step outside the area? I wish to-” 

“Test if it weakens the bindings?” 

Nooroo jumped slightly in guilt. Yes. …But at the same time no. She wanted to be free. She did not like being used for an evil purpose. But the same bindings that she wished to escape… bound her in complete, total, loyalty to whoever wielded her Miraculous. She had had Masters… Chosen… in the past who had granted her all the freedoms possible, even allowing her free will to do and act and think and feel as she wished. …But she could only have those freedoms if GRANTED them. Her Master had not even needed to ADD much in the way of bindings. Indeed, outside of not being allowed to range more than two meters away from his side, and not being allowed to speak to others… he had not needed to add much of anything else to what already existed. “Nooroo.” 

“Yes… but also no. I am ever your loyal servant, Master. I cannot betray that. I cannot… want… to betray that.” 

Even if she wanted to want it. 

“Then what reason do I have to do this?” 

“I can sense the people within my range of ability with no discernible difference, but my sense of my akuma and the Champion who has stood down is… slightly muted, as if they were further away than they actually are. My connection to you is… comparable to the connection you have to your Champions, although in many ways in reverse. If you step outside the area created by these objects, I will be able to tell you if your connection with your Champions will be muted in any way.” 

“Hmm. …Very well. But you can not contact, or attempt to contact, anyone or anything save myself and your akuma.” 

Nooroo bowed. “As you so command, Master.” 

Her Master walked until he was outside the ring of geodes and statues and stood, arms crossed, waiting and watching silently. 

How odd. She could still sense him, although it too was muted. …How she wished he had not thought to curtail her from trying to contact ANYONE. She was not Tikki and Plagg, nor was she Regaal and Chanticleer, nor the Four Symbols, nor… but Nooroo could have tried to contact Trixx, as the fox kwami and butterfly shared a homeland and that… that might have given her enough of a connection. But no… Even without the order, Trixx was almost certainly still contained within the fox pendent, for Nooroo had not felt her bond to anyone as she’d felt Regaal bond only a few days past. She had no other kwami that she had a strong connection to, no one she could communicate with over a distance… but she could have tried to communicate with the Last Guardian as he should have certain ensorcelled items, or perhaps she could try to send a message to allies of days past. 

Nooroo sighed softly, staring down at her clasped hands, enjoying the moment of an illusion of freedom before looking up to meet her Master’s eyes. 

“It is muted, but still present, so too would your control of your Champions likely be.” 

“Which means what, Nooroo?” 

“Well… you should be able to communicate as you usually do. But this might impact your ability to see or hear through your Champions eyes, or see or hear their thoughts, and your ability to inflict pain or partial physical control might be lost or nearly so. …and more importantly, it might impact your ability to recall an Akuma from an unwilling Champion.” 

“Hmm.” Gabriel frowned, eyes narrowing as he considered that. “Go finish your Offering, Nooroo.” 

Best to remove any chance of the kwami contacting an outside force, no matter how small a chance it might be. 

Gabriel turned from Nooroo as the kwami flew over and went back to drinking Red Bull, and stared back at the altar and the butterfly window above it, weighing the pros and cons carefully. There were… dangers that loomed and haunted him and those he needed to protect, those he loved, that which was his… Gabriel stopped for a moment and closed his eyes, taking the emotions and examining them with a cold, cruel eye, discovering the causes and sources, and letting them go or locking them neatly away until all was controlled once again. Analyze the situation logically. 

These items could shield against magics of the mind. “Nooroo.” 

“Yes, Master?” 

“Can you tell if this… barrier would stop physical magics as well as mental? …if so, is there a way to allow… certain spells to pass unhindered?” 

“I… cannot tell, Master. I am sorry.” 

“Mmm. A matter to test thoroughly then.” Although this at least would be far easier to test than the Audio-Recorder Lucky Charm. Simply set some of the items up in a relatively secure location where the heroes… and rogue element of the Peacock… were unlikely to find it. Keep his eye out for a Champion with magics of the physical realm… and also those with attacks of a mental type as well, such as mind control- 

Huh. Another matter to test. Would a mind control attack such as Soldier’s voice work on someone who was inside the protection granted? Also, would it filter or protect against magic that was transmitted over a recording or transmission, like a television broadcast? 

Hmm. Well, setting up a test location that would have people within the area of… protection… and then setting an akumatized to try to attack the people or objects within, then seeing if the Miraculous Restoration repaired all harm done, would let him know if he should add these items to the protections of the mansion. Above all else, the deciding factor would be the Restoration. He couldn’t risk his home, or what was within it, to not being reset. After all, the Restoration that had returned his son to him had been activated WITHIN the ‘field’ these items created, rather than outside it, so who could tell if that was a factor or not. 

…further, would it stop his teleportation? 

Gabriel huffed and shook his head. No, of course it didn’t stop that. He had teleported into spaces created by these items after all when he’d taken the ones Shadowhawk had stolen from the kidnappers and stored in the flood tunnels beneath Palais Garnier, and the ones he himself had stolen from the police station. 

Very well, that was a weakness that – while he could make use of it – he would have to include in a way to defend against it when used by others. It was also possible that these objects were, in some way, keyed to interfere or block himself, or Miraculous and kwami based powers only. His diamond, after all, was the magic of mortals, not quantic kami. 

He also needed to discover how many, or how few, of the geodes and statues were needed to create the area of protection. 

Well. He had a few areas that he wished to add layers of protection to here in the gallery. Areas that he would be alright with, if not prefer, the Restoration not touching… certainly areas that he would not want anyone to be able to sense or track. Particularly at the moment, he did not want the Leader of the kidnappers to be able to sense or track him. Even if she was – so far as he knew – far away in New York City, distracted by matters there to a greater or lesser degree, particularly matters the kidnappers called La Môme Piaf and Hercules whatever – or whoever – they were. Still, Monarch had had enough time and resources to try to find a method of control over Papillon, half a world away. 

A matter to be carefully watched and not allowed to slide or be forgotten. 

However, that would have to wait until Nooroo finished recharging. 

“Master?” 

“Yes, Nooroo?” 

“Why do you…” Nooroo paused, taking a sip of her energy drink, seemingly trying to gather her thoughts. “Why do you intend to use these items?” 

“To protect myself and that which I love.” 

“From what? What is out there, that you have turned your home into a fortress against mortal and mage? That the protections you have are not enough?” 

Gabriel’s jaw clenched. “Somethings I would prefer not to name. Names have power and can draw attention best avoided. …There is also the matter of the Guardian of the Miraculous that I know to be here in Paris.” 

“How… do you kno- suspect that?” 

Gabriel snorted. “You think my decision to begin creating supervillains, to make use of the Butterfly Miraculous, was a mere impulse? Your Last Guardian has not been as subtle as he thinks. I knew he was in possession of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. I knew he was in Paris. I even have suspicions as to some of the reasons why.” 

“Do you know where he is?” 

“If I knew that, I would not have gone for the inherently risky plan that I am currently using. I would have simply found a way to get the Miraculi on my own, most likely using my teleportation spell, or I would have gotten a Champion who would have been perfect for finding and stealing the Miraculi.” 

“Like Shadowhawk?” 

“Shadowhawk is an excellent tracker, but she is not well suited to stealth, combat, or theft.” 

“Like Monghost then?” 

Gabriel laughed at that. “Monghost was not akumatized for my usual reasons.” 

“…Why DID you make her one of your Champions? She kidnapped Adrien.” 

“That is why I did it.” 

Nooroo stared at him at that, apparently poleaxed. 

Gabriel sighed. “It is not a reward. It was primarily to gain access to her recent memories, surface thoughts, and any memories or thoughts that she recalls while akumatized. I need to know more about this ‘Monarch’.” 

“If that is your primary reason, why else did you do it?” 

“Punishment. Oh, don’t give me that look. I won’t be torturing her with pain, no matter how much I WISH to. The deal I offered was that she would have super powers and I would grant her protection from Monarch… so long as she gets me the Miraculous. Monghost may be a skilled fighter, but her odds of success were… acceptably low for me. So, when she fails, I will simply let her be taken into police custody.” He smirked again. “And of course, there is the matter that both heroes have reason to be perhaps a trifle more… vicious… in their dealing with her, which is a lovely perk so far as I am concerned. On a more important note, Shadowhawk has agreed to look into Monarch and contact me via her Akuma should she find anything of interest.” Although, that brought something to mind. “Has that been done before?” 

“…has what been done?” 

“My deal with Shadowhawk. That she would be able to keep her akuma after she stood down, to be able to transform when she wished or if I were to call on her again.” 

“Oh, that. Yes, Master. Many of my previous Chosen would have preferred Champions. Sometimes all four of the akuma that they could charge or send out without reabsorbing the charge would be tied to a preferred Champion whom they could then call on.” 

Gabriel blinked, eyebrows raising. “Interesting. …And not what I expected. …the other matters of the deal, where we kept record of what she did and even took transcript of her thoughts and words where she desired so that she would know what she had done while transformed. Is that also something my predecessors have done?” 

Nooroo nodded. “Yes.” 

Huh. Oddly… that was comforting. It also answered his unvoiced concern that the akuma would lose its charge and leave, negating his deal with Shadowhawk. While the contact information he’d included in the documents and files for a multitude of people rich, famous and who likely would be glad to hire a skilled mantracker would likely be a nice bonus ( _as too would be his promise to allow her access – within reason – to his resources as both Papillon and Gabriel Agreste_ ) if she could no longer transform whenever she wished to deal with a situation that she could not handle as Domino Harvey then the deal would not be what was agreed upon… and he wanted to fulfill his side of the deal, and even go above and beyond for her. 

She had saved his son. 

Gabriel looked over at the clink of metal on wood, and nodded when he saw Nooroo had finished her Offering. 

“Nooroo, transform me!” 

Purple and silver light flared, as white butterflies materialized and covered him, then darted away with a final flare of light, flying around to settle over the Gallery. 

The geodes and statues that had been far too heavy for Gabriel Agreste to move around were easy to carry and move as Papillon. It took an hour or so of experimentation, but eventually he found the perfect balance between the number of items and the distance between them to create as large an area as feasible protected with as few geodes and statues as possible. It proved to be just enough to line the perimeter of his observatory, to line the perimeter of the altar, and leave enough left over to create a small test area. 

Hm. Well, that would do for the time being. Papillon glanced at the pink diamond that was still sitting on the table, making certain that everything was still set up properly. 

He glanced at the high-tech capsule that dominated the altar space, laying a hand on the glass cover as he stared within. 

Inside the capsule, something stirred, luminous blue eyes opened and stared at him, golden feathered wings rustling as the kwami mantled them, glaring defiance at him and the entire world beyond. 

Soon. It would be over soon, he was certain of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabe’s logic is a twisty ball of snakes in a large part due to the fact that he really doesn’t want to think too hard about what he’s doing. He’s got lines in the sand and doesn’t want to admit that he’s already trampled all over them to one degree or another, so the few things that he can argue to have not crossed via schematics he’s clinging to… while still refusing to focus on it too long as that means addressing that it’s schematics and not clear-cut
> 
> The Peacock kwami (changed to male pronouns and renamed Regaal) is brought up again and there’s a HINT of why I made this change here *evil laugh*. Also the reason that I’m going female Trixx like in the English dub (and original convention comments, twitter posts and production art) ALSO is starting to be established. *more evil laughter* 
> 
> Also, the driving point of some of the season 2 episodes of OH NO HE WILL DISCOVER THERE IS A GUARDIAN IN PARIS is so… sloppy. Papillon not only likely SUSPECTED there was a Guardian in Paris, his entire plan HINGED on there being a Guardian in Paris. It’s just, sadly, a weak excuse for no one to keep their miraculi long term due to the push of ‘any viewing order’. 
> 
> As for who this golden winged, blue eyed kwami is…. 
> 
> Well… 
> 
> You’ll see ^^


	9. Chapter 9

The sun had set, her homework was done, and Marinette was finally satisfied with the updated design for her new Ladybug costume to be.

She also had about a half hour before Manon would be dropped off. That wasn’t a lot of time, but it was still enough to maybe start working on her sunhats. It was only two months until summer after all, and if she wanted to have a good number of hats to sell for extra funds, she had to get to work on them now instead of later! 

Although… ooo, she could use her sunhats in the portfolio she wanted to have to show for lycée! 

Hrm. Maybe. Wouldn’t it be better to have those modeled instead of just sitting on a boring old hat stand? Because that HAD to be better! 

Mind made up, Marinette bounced over to her new computer and booted it up out of sleep mode and pulled up the group chat she had with Alya, Mylène, Alix, Rose and Juleka and sent out a ping. Most of them should be able to answer, although Mylène tended to go to bed far earlier than everyone else, and Juleka – living on a houseboat as she did – sometimes had spotty internet. 

It took a few minutes, but soon everyone was online, although Juleka’s feed kept lagging. 

“Hi, girls! Sorry for calling everyone up late, but I had a cool idea, or I think it’s a cool idea, and I wanted to run it past you and ask you if you’d be okay with it before I forgot.” 

#“Well… I’m sure we’d love to help you out, Marinette,”# Rose said. 

#“Although knowing what the heck you want us to do would be a cool thing,”# Alix snarked with a smirk. 

Marinette giggled and explained about her idea of having people model her sunhats for both her portfolio and for her Summer Sales page. 

Mylène blinked suddenly, then smiled and pulled out her phone and typed on it for a minute, then hit send. Everyone but Marinette and Juleka jumped and looked towards their phones as they got a notification tone, and almost in sync pulled their phones up to check them… and Juleka’s feed suddenly cut from her tilting her head and smiling in bemusement at Marinette’s explanation to her looking at her phone as well. 

Marinette pouted, feeling a bit hurt at being left out, something that stung even more when Rose giggled, everyone typed something in response and sent them off, and Alya flat out cackled in delight and pointed at the screen. #“Mylène, I like the way you think, girl.”# 

“Thinks about what?!” Marinette demanded. 

#“The p-rf--ct p--ment --r our services,”# Juleka said with a faint smile. 

Marinette blinked. “Huh?” 

#“You have to come to the pool with us this Sunday as payment for our services as models!”# Rose chirped, bouncing slightly. 

Marinette blinked, then smiled and gleefully agreed to the demands. 

She had such wonderful friends. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“Adrien. Aaaaaaadrieeeeeen. …Adrien. Adrien. Adrien Adrien Adriiiiieeeeennnnnnnnnnn… AdrienAdrienAdrienAdrienAdrienADRIENAdrienAdrienADRIENAdrienADRIENAdrienAdrienAdrienAdrienADRIENAdrienAdriUMPH!” 

Adrien sleepily opened one eye and considered the pillow he’d smacked down onto Plagg, and relaxed when Plagg phased out of the fabric. Good. No one hurt and the kwami was being quiet. Now he could go back to sl- 

“Adrien. AdrienAdrienAdrienAdrienAdrienADRIENAdrienAdrienAdri-” 

“Plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagg, lemme sleeeeeeeeeeeeep.” 

“No can do, Kid. You’ve got less than half an hour to get up, take a shower, transform and get to the other side of the city.” 

Adrien opened his eyes to glare blearily at Plagg, who just stared back, smirking, waiting… and Plagg cackled when Adrien yelped, green eyes going wide as he scrambled out of bed and to his feet. 

“Face to Face! Auuuugh, I forgot!” 

“You forg- …Adrien, you literally went to bed super early just so you would be rested and ready for this! How is that ‘forgot’?” 

Adrien paused, blinking. “Uh. …I forgot while I was sleeping and just wanted to sleep more?” 

Plagg snorted. “If you’re that tired, just go back to bed.” 

“Can’t. I promised I’d go.” Adrien scrubbed his face with his hands, then headed for his bathroom. 

“You could still skip it,” Plagg pointed out, following along behind Adrien and playing keep away with Adrien’s toothbrush, then his hair brush. 

“Plagg, gimme that. I have to get ready.” 

Plagg let Adrien snatch the hairbrush away, but he messed with Adrien’s hair as the teen tried to brush it, until Adrien finally chased him out of the bathroom, turning the TV on to hopefully distract the kwami long enough for Adrien to get cleaned up. 

“So you really wanna do this?” Plagg asked as he flipped through channels. 

“Yeah. People seeing that we’re real… well… people. Outside of Alya’s interviews and some ‘on the spot’ interviews we haven’t really done much of anything. …Besides, it’s probably just gonna be more of the same stuff I get asked when I get interviewed for modeling. _‘What’s your workout regime’, ‘how did you get into this career’, ‘what’s it like working with someone as famous as such and such’, ‘what’s your opinions on this random stuff that doesn’t really matter but looks good for our clickbait article title’,_ and on and on and on.” Adrien made a face and washed up, then went hunting for the towels and other items he needed. “I may not like it, but I know what to do and what not to do… Ladybug is usually the one the cameras and reporters want to focus on anyway, and she’s always answering the questions and taking point, so that’ll be fine too.” 

“If you say so, Kid. Oh, hey it’s the reporter lady!” 

#“-lusive first edition of our new show, Face to Face! You’ll be able to ask your questions live to Ladybug and Chat Noir!”# Adrien wandered out of the bathroom and glanced at the TV screen before going to his bed and setting up the pillows, towels and wig, gritting his teeth as he did so. 

This wasn’t going to end up like it had the last time he’d done this. He’d be Chat Noir the whole time. His bodyguard would know where he was and be watching and once the interview was over, M. Chaplin would probably come and make sure he got home safe in a reasonable amount of time. Master Fu and Wayzz probably knew about the interview and would watch the show and would know when he headed for home. Ladybug would be there with him. Plagg would be with him. 

There was no way he’d be kidnapped again. People would know if he didn’t get home and would come and find him. …Plagg would keep it from happening in the first place anyway. Right? 

Right. 

#“Furthermore, I, Nadja Chamak, promise you incredible revelations! Every secret of your favorite superheroes finally revealed! You want info, I have it on the go!”# 

Plagg snorted and hit mute. “She sounds like she thinks she’s actually gonna get one of you to slip up and reveal who you are.” 

Adrien thought back to Mnemosyne, and how Nadja had tried to get an interview with him in the middle of an Akumatized attack and while he was obviously injured. “Well… she’s driven, but she probably means well.” 

Plagg laughed. “Maybe she thinks she can manage something big. …But it’s probably just to draw people in.” 

“She wouldn’t do anything really bad.” 

“Oh really?” 

Adrien made a face at Plagg. “You always think the worst of everybody!” 

“Yeah and people usually live up to it.” 

Adrien just groaned. “Well, at least this means that superheroes and supervillains are more… ‘every day’ now, since me and Ladybug just showing up isn’t enough and she has to promise big secrets and stuff to get a crowd. Maybe people’ll stop doing stuff like wondering what an Akumatized is, or what that black glowing butterfly is, or-” 

“Trying to interview a superhero in the middle of a warzone?” 

“…Yeah, that’d be nice to have not happen again.” 

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#“Tonight, an exclusive first edition of our new show, Face to Face, you'll be able to ask your questions live to Ladybug and Chat Noir! Furthermore, I, Nadja Chamak, promise you incredible revelations! Every secret of your favorite superheroes finally revealed! You want info, I have it on the go!”# 

“Every secret finally revealed?!” Tikki demanded, staring at the television screen in horror. 

There was no way that someone had figured out who Ladybug was… 

But what if there WAS!? What if Nadja distracted Marinette and something slipped? What if- 

Feeling frantic, she flew over to where Marinette was sewing the side band of one of her sunhats to the crown, the inaugural use of the far larger (and more expensive and professional) sewing machine Chat Noir had bought her after Madame Mort had destroyed her original one. “Marinette! This show, you-!” 

“Can you believe it, Tikki? An hour-long exclusive interview, just for Chat Noir and me! I can’t believe it! I can’t wait for next we-!!” 

“Marinette! You can’t go!!” 

The tone of Tikki’s voice obviously caught Marinette by surprise and she looked up from her sewing machine in silent confusion. 

“You’re a superhero, not a television star!” Tikki flew around sharply, too worked up to stay still. “You need to preserve the Glamour!” she insisted, poking Marinette in the nose to hopefully get her to really LISTEN. “It’s the primary thing protecting you from Papillon and his Champions!” 

Marinette blinked. “You were alright with me going to the show before, Tikki. We both agreed, and Chat agreed as well, that the few times I’ve talked to reporters haven’t been enough. We need to show the people of Paris that Chat Noir and I are here for them, that we’re here to help and protect them. Chat said that an interview might make us more… more REAL to people, so they’ll be more willing to believe us and work with us. And maybe we can use this to talk about really important stuff, like what to do if there’s an akumatized attack, or how normal people really shouldn’t try to take part in a battle, or all those things that happen and make things so hard and dangerous for Chat and I that we’ve mentioned in the interviews Alya’s had but…” 

“But this will be watched by more people, and will be seen as more adult and more real,” Tikki admitted with a sigh, sinking to sit on Marinette’s sewing machine. “I know. And that’s still right, it’s just…” 

“Just what? Why were you so worried? Why did you so suddenly do a one-eighty on me going?” 

Tikki sighed. “The way Nadja said ‘Every secret would be revealed’… I just… What if she has something? What if she tries to trick you or Chat into revealing who you really are? There are so many variables!” 

“If she had evidence or knew who I was, she wouldn’t have been so casual about asking me to babysit Manon,” Marinette pointed out with a smile. “It’s probably something like ‘Ladybug isn’t really over three thousand years old’ or stuff like that!” 

“…I guess that’s true. But be CAREFUL tonight, okay? If she starts pushing towards something like the book and how it means you probably go to a certain school, or anything else… Promise me you’ll leave. My Good Luck only stretches so far you know, and Plagg’s bad luck for those who cross his path doesn’t always work either!” 

“I’m going to be careful, I promise… you know I wil- Tonight?! What do you mean, tonight!?” Marinette scrabbled for her phone and unlocked it, pulling up the calendar. “Tonight, I have babysitting! The show is NEXT weeeeeeeeeeee…-!” 

#“Don’t forget! Tonight at 8:45, Face to Face! Live with Ladybug and Chat Noir!”# 

“Annnnd there’s why you’re babysitting tonight.” 

_Glk_

Marinette looked back and forth from the TV to her phone. Oh no, oh no, oh NO… How could she have… but it was… and she was BABYSITTING and- 

“You put it on the wrong day didn’t you,” Tikki demanded in a flat tone, frowning in displeasure. 

“No, I… I just… it’s that…” 

She’d forgotten. With Spy and Tinker and Soldier and everything else she’d forgotten to ever actually PUT ‘Face to Face’ on her calendar… and then with Shadowhawk and Adrien’s kidnapping she’d completely forgotten about the interview until Nadja’s commercial had started to play and IT WAS TONIGHT!? What was she going to DO? *HOW* could she possibly manage to- 

“Marinette!!” 

_GLK!!!_

Tikki dove to hide in Marinette’s blazer even as Marinette scrambled to her feet and stuffed her phone into her pocket, diving over to turn the TV off, and just barely managed to do so and turn to face the trapdoor before it was flung open and Manon ricocheted up the stairs and flung herself at into noirette’s arms with a second gleeful scream of “Marinette!!” 

“Manon! Erm, Madame Chamak!” smiling nervously, Marinette put Manon back down on the floor. “I was just watching your commercial! For the show you’re doing! Tonight!” 

“I’m late, sorry!” Mme. Chamak smiled ruefully. “Traffic was horrendous and Manon’s favorite restaurant was closed for some reason. Thank you again for watching her tonight!” She swung a backpack off her shoulder and handed it to Marinette who almost doubled over with the weight of it. “So, I put her things in the bag, she already ate, and should be going to sleep in the next twenty minutes or so! It’s really convenient for me that you’re free tonight, thanks again for taking it up when my usual babysitter was ill!” 

“Erm, yeah…” okay this backpack was WAY too heavy for her. Marinette managed to carry it to her chair and dropped it into it. Woulf. Maybe she was too used to being superstrong as Ladybug. She should do some stuff to get stronger and everything as herself too. 

…erm. Later. She should think about this later. 

Marinette turned back to Mme. Chamak and put on a bright smile. “How lucky, I didn’t have anything else planned!” she chirped, then rubbed the back of her head. 

Wow, that sounded fake even to her. 

“Nothing at all, nothing!” 

She felt Tikki poke her hard in the side where the kwami was hiding in her blazer. 

Manon grabbed her free hand and yanked on it, probably wanting to play. 

“I really need to run,” Nadja said apologetically. “My career depends on this interview.” 

…Well. Shoot. There went Option A: don’t go to the interview and let Chat handle it while she babysat Manon to avoid suspicion ( _and to do her duty as a babysitter. She was pretty sure that ‘abandoning your six-year-old charge’ was high on the DO NOT DO list_ ). 

Manon offered a cheer and scrambled to climb up onto Marinette’s shoulders. “Maman’s going to be on TV with Ladybug and Chat Noir!” 

Nadja smiled. “Yes, she is. You be good for Marinette, Manon. Don’t try to stay up late, you need your sleep so we can go to the park tomorrow bright and early to celebrate!” 

“Everything is gonna be fine,” Marinette promised. “I’m sure of it.” 

“Thank you, Marinette.” Nadja’s phone buzzed and she glanced at it, then winced and headed for the stairs. “I’ve got to fly. Take care you two! Love you, Manon! Wish me luck!” 

“Good luck!” Marinette and Manon called, even as Nadja closed the trap door and a moment later, Marinette heard the click of the stairwell door. 

Okay. 

Ooooooookay. 

Okay okay okay. She could work with this. She could come up with a solution. 

Marinette swung Manon off her shoulders and pulled her plushies out of her dowry chest, laying them down on the chaise to let Manon play with them. 

Child successfully distracted, Marinette turned around and pulled her phone out of her pocket and pulled up Alya on her contact list. Okay, so she’d call Alya and- 

Tikki flew out from her blazer and hit the Home button, minimizing the contact list. She shook her head at Marinette, then quickly pulled up the notepad app and typed on it. 

#Cnt B Alya no exus w wrk mght fgr it out# 

Oh shoot. Yeah that was true. They’d talked about that on Thursday, there was no way Alya would buy Marinette vanishing for an hour or more. The Glamour and Marinette’s supernatural good luck were strong… but not THAT strong. 

#Mnon sleep heavy shld sleep soon U cn gt 2 tvi n 5 min Get Mann sleep go 2 intvw come back ill pt luck so Manon wll b saf n asleep# 

…Not the best option… and it felt really ICKY not being her to do her babysitterly duties… 

But it was the only option she really had.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major canon change. Arlette NoSurnameGiven is now Arlette Bourgeois, Chloé’s mother and Andre’s wife. There is no Audrey Bourgeois: Fashion Queen. I explain why in the notes below. (I apologize for the notes BTW, as they’re 1/3rd of this chapter’s word count ^_^;; )  
> …Oh and Nadja’s earpiece is a behind the ear one designed to be small and unnoticed and she wears it on the ear OPPOSITE the camera… the audience isn’t supposed to know she has one after all.

Nadja stared at her tablet, reading over the planned questions, taking a slow breath in to try and steady her nerves… and also trying very hard not to look at the ‘ratings watch’ on her wrist.

Arlette Bourgeois’ newest strategy. 

Everyone knew that the watch wasn’t REAL. How could it be? Ratings didn’t work like that, and there would be no way to have something ‘sync up’ to show it in anything resembling ‘real time’. Plus there had been several times, well over a baker’s dozen instances actually, of the actual ratings and viewership of a show being far higher, or far lower, than what the watch had said. 

The watch did, however, show you exactly what ARLETTE thought of you and your show in a very distinct and clear percentage bar. 

And Arlette was the one who owned TVi, and in many ways – by extension – ruled over everyone that worked there with an iron fist. 

She reached forward and grabbed another chouquette from the platter and popped it into her mouth, wishing she dared open one of the cans of orange soda. 

Alright, first would be the questions about how the duo had started out, perhaps try to lead them into talking about how they had gotten their Miraculi and where they’d been before-hand. That should be enough of a hook to catch initial attention and keep Arlette’s ‘ratings watch’ in the green. Then it’d be questions about day to day life of a hero – how they balanced heroics and normal life, then she’d open the floor to three to four callers – which should keep things fresh and would let Arlette have a bit more control and direction, as she would be the one choosing who the ‘random callers’ would be… a sure-fire way to keep the Arlette ratings out of the red. Then it’d be general discussion, then it’d be time for her ‘big reveal’ to close it out and end on a big ban- 

#“We’re live in ten minutes, and no heroes around.”# 

Nadja reached up to touch the earpiece she was wearing and glanced up at the studio windows in confusion. The earpiece was supposed to be so that the team could feed her information or help her cue the next line of questions… Why was Arlette using it now? …It didn’t bode well, for Arlette to sound this annoyed before the show had even begun. 

“Yes, Arlette, everything is under control, like promised, we’re gonna break the records!” 

#“You better, if you want keep presenting your show for prime time.”# 

…Oh hell. 

Nadja looked to the couch opposite her. The very very EMPTY couch. 

Arlette sounded like she’d already made up her mind. …Was that why Alec had been so chipper and certain that he’d be getting at least one of the Prime Time slots? As much as she respected him… she wouldn’t put it past him, and he did have the best relationship with Arlette out of anyone at TVi, to the point where a myriad of rumors flew at all hours of the day. 

Nadja forced the breath she was holding out in a heavy gust and returned her attention to her tablet. Nothing for it except doing the best job she could and praying for all the luck she could ge- 

_THUD!_

Nadja’s attention snapped up from her tablet to the couch agai- 

Chat Noir lounged before her, smirking as he swung his belt-tail in his hand like a baton. 

“Gah!” the tablet went flying and Nadja only JUST managed to catch it and keep it from knocking everything off the small table. “But-How-Where did you come from?!” 

Chat just smiled and snagged a bottle of soda off the table and opened it. “Star secret, Nadja.” He took a sip of the drink then looked around, losing his smile as he screwed the cap back on the drink and putting it back on the table, seemingly out of habit. “I see my Lady hasn’t arrived yet?” 

Oh no… 

“I thought you’d be together!” 

Chat Noir was suddenly right in front of her, leaning in with a broad winning smile. How had he gotten out of the couch, around the snack covered table, and so close so FAST? She had barely blinked! 

“Want to know a secret?” 

Nadja glanced at Naël out of the corner of her eye, but the cameraman only shrugged. 

Ah well. She nodded, honestly curious as to what secret Chat Noir was about to rev- 

“I love…. Chouquettes!” 

Chat held up one of the pastry puffs ( _when had he picked it up?_ ) and then popped it into his mouth, smiling like the cat that had gotten the cream. 

Nadja couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her. He was adorable, in a ridiculous way. He reminded her of her nephew to be honest. 

#“THAT’S the juicy info you promised me?”# 

Chat’s cat-ears twitched and he lost his smile, then moved back and away from Nadja and over to the other couch while Nadja turned to look up at the windows again, trying to see past the glare of the lights, plastering a smile on her face and waving her hands in supplication. “Erm, no, of course not, nothing to do with thi-!” 

#“You know the rules. Quality info for the evening intro. Useless info, no more show. And the cat is not what people will be tuning in to see.” 

#“Live in five minutes!”# 

“I’m sorry, she’s not answering.” 

Nadja tore her gaze from the windows to look at Chat, who had his baton out and was staring at her apologetically. 

…How good was his hearing? How much had he heard? Or was he just trying to be nice and find out where Ladybug was? 

#“Live in four minutes!”# 

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Regaal ate from the bowl of nightshade berries, silently considering his new Chosen. He was young, and not the warrior that Regaal usually preferred to choose. 

Still, the boy had spirit and determination, so there was something to build upon at least. …and Regaal WAS the most magnificent of the kwami after all, it’d be the height of foolishness for him to be standing aside, waiting, instead of being the vanguard. 

…Granted his Chosen was currently waiting to watch an interview of two other Chosen instead of going out and speaking to them, striking an alliance against a mutual foe, and showing what he could do. He seemed nervous, edgy, constantly looking towards the small window he had in this attic room. Regaal tilted his head, wondering if he should tell the boy that the feeling of unease, the almost-images he was seeing in his mind’s eye was simply the foresight that was the Peacock Miraculous’ passive ability. Usually Regaal’s Chosen figured it out quickly… but then usually they were given the Miraculous with knowledge of what it was, not finding it in- 

The TV suddenly muted, leaving the small attic room in silence. His Chosen was frowning at the screen, and Regaal tilted his head, wondering what had struck the boy so sharply. “Chosen?” 

“Regaal, what’s best in life?” 

Well, well. An important question, and one Regaal knew the answer to with the absolute certainty of thousands of years experience. 

“To crush your enemies, see them driven them before you, and hear the lamination of their children-” 

“...NooooOOOOOoooo!” 

Regaal blinked, caught off guard by the intense negation. Huh. Odd that answer had always served him well in the past. “...No?” 

“NO!” his Chosen insisted with a yelp. 

Regaal sighed. “...Fine. Fashionable clothing that allows full range of motion.” 

“Yeah, see that I can agree o-” 

“So that you are both fabulous AND mobile for COMBAT TO THE DEATH!” 

“NOOOoOoOoOOO!!” 

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#“In a moment, find Nadja Chamak with Ladybug and Chat Noir, for an exclusive first time super interview.”# 

Alya huffed, scowling at her TV screen. “Exclusive first time interview my butt. I interviewed Ladybug back in MARCH, and I’ve had interviews with both Chat and Ladybug now!” 

Marlena laughed. “Yes, but that was for the internet, Alya.” 

“SO?!” 

“So, for a lot of people, TV is more ‘real’ than the internet,” Otis pointed out with a smile. 

“Uuuuuugh, Tonton Otis why do you have to make so much seeeeeeeeeeeeense?” Alya complained, flopping to lay on her side on the couch, much to the amusement of her mother and her uncle, and the giggles of the twins. 

“If you want to try your luck, you can call in,” Otis said. 

Alya perked up. “I can?! Even though it’s a pay number and not an 800?” 

“Yes.” Marlena smiled. “Even though we’ll have to pay for the call. That’s what the first interviewer of Ladybug and Chat Noir deserves as a reward for her hard work after all.” 

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She was in so much trouble… 

Marinette stared at Manon, trying to keep her nerves from showing. Manon had had a nice glass of warm milk, had changed into her jammies (a footed-ladybug-onsie with hood), was curled up on Marinette’s bed, hugging her Ladybug and Chat Noir and Lady Wifi plushies, listening to Nadja’s approved lullaby music… 

But Manon STILL was not asleep. 

Marinette glanced at the clock on her headboard, fingers tapping frantically on her knees as she gulped and glanced at Manon… who did at least seem to be winding down, her eyes half closed. 

_‘Yes, that’s it! Please, go to sleep. Pleeeease, go to sleeeep… Sleep little Manon, rest in peeeeeaaaace…’_

Manon yawned and snuggled deeper into the covers, closing her eyes, her breathing slowing down. 

_‘Sleeeeeeep. …Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppp…’_

Manon’s breathing leveled out and Marinette got to her feet, sneaking over to the trapdoor and up onto her rooftop balcony. “Okay, so she should stay asleep and safe, right?” 

“With a little luck, yes.” 

Marinette nodded and carefully pulled the suntarp she had hanging over her lounge chair down and ducked under it – a bright blast of light was something people might notice after all – glancing at the clock on her phone. …Oh MAN she had less than five minutes!! 

“Tikki, transform me.” 

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They were down to the last half-minute now. One of the staff members came to roll the snack cart away, and Chat Noir snatched a few of the chouquettes up, popping them into his mouth as he frowned at the door, occasionally glancing up towards the rafters, the very tip of his belt-tail twitching sharply. 

Nadja’s hands clenched on her tablet. Had Ladybug decided not to come? Had she forgotten? It was very obvious that the person Arlette wanted was Ladybug, Chat Noir being inconsequential to TVi’s owner. 

“Live in ten, nine-” 

#“Eight seconds before the biggest failure in all of TV history.”# 

“-four, three-” 

Chat’s ears twitched and he looked to the doors, belt-tail stilling as he lounged on the couch, throwing one arm over the back as he crossed his legs and smiled fondly- 

-at the doors being slammed open by a flying kick by Ladybug, who landed in a run before throwing her yoyo at the rafters to swing dramatically across the studio, doing a fancy flip and spin to land before the couch, arms spread wide as she smiled broadly, obviously quite pleased with herself… only to lose the smile for a moment as she discovered she’d landed just a hair too far forward to be able to drop smoothly to sit down and had to flail about to recover and drop heavily to the couch, where she quickly crossed her legs and sat prim and proper, reaching up to adjust one of her pigtail ribbons. 

And Chat Noir never once lost the fond smile. “I thought you stood me up, my Lady.” 

“My fans would have been disappointed to have only seen a cat,” Ladybug said with a smile before turning to meet Nadja’s eyes. “Sorry I’m late, Nadja,” she said sincerely. 

#“That was close. Now I trust you to make the audience records boom.”# 

Nadja glanced at the ‘ratings’ watch, heart dropping when she saw it was already on a single red bar. 

Why? It made no SENSE! Why did Arlette want this to fail so badly? There was no way that the first interview done by a big studio would have bad ratings, so why the act? 

#“Make sure that red becomes green.”# 

Nadja set her jaw, then set her tablet by her side for the moment and cleared everything from her face, putting on a bright smile as she turned to look at the mobile camera as it was brought in low and down for the opening frame. “Good evening everyone! I'm Nadja Chamack, you're watching Face to Face. For this first show, I have the city of Paris' favorite protectors, Ladybug and Chat Noir.” 

The two heroes looked at secondary camera and waved with small smiles. 

“Good evening! Thank you for accepting to give me an exclusive live interview!” 

Now… if she could just keep Arlette from tanking it for reasons unknown. …or if she could just figure out what Arlette wanted and why she was doing this, if she could figure that out, she could get out of this with a job and no one angry at anyone else – most especially not the two heroes – angry at her. 

“Thank YOU, Nadja, we're very happy to be here,” Ladybug said, shoulders tight and back ramrod straight, her smile friendly… but still a bit forced. 

Well… There was one who’d never really been on camera in an interview environment. Nadja felt a bit sorry for her. While Ladybug tended to be the one answering questions and the focus of the cameras and reporters after an attack… there was a strong difference between that ‘in the moment’ and a formal interview like this, and- 

“And good evening to all my fans,” Chat Noir all but purred while he lounged against the couch, even blowing a kiss to the camera. 

…annnnnnd there was one who’d been on enough interviews to have the act down to a science. That was interesting! Especially when she considered how Chat tended to just stand and smile in the background during most ‘on scene’ interviews. Odd that how they tended to act, and treat, the camera was so different on-the-scene compared to in-studio. 

Something to consider for later. For now she’d work with it and try to focus on getting Ladybug relaxed. 

“I'm sure there are many behind their screens for you tonight!” Nadja said, smiling at how ridiculously over the top Chat Noir was being. 

“Please don't encourage him, otherwise he's gonna purr all evening,” Ladybug said, shoulders relaxing slightly even as she side-eyed her partner with a smirk. 

“Don't mind her, Bugaboo is a tad jealous!” Chat jested, holding his hand up with the point finger and thumb ever so slightly apart, eyes sliding half closed as he smiled at Ladybug. 

“I thought we agreed you wouldn't call me "Bugaboo" anymore, Chatounet,” Ladybug chided with a broad smile, more tension bleeding out of her as she reached over to flick his bell with a finger, which just made Chat Noir close his eyes and laugh. 

Nadja laughed as Chat Noir mock-pouted and complained that ‘but it’s so cute’. No one had warned her that they’d be adora- 

Her watch vibrated, and Nadja checked that no cameras were focusing on her ( _they weren’t, the flirting superheroes had all cameras locked on them_ ) then quickly checked the ratings watch. 

With another vibration, the bar went up again. 

Four bars and into the orange. So, the duo flirting was something Arlette liked. That spelled good things about Nadja’s planned ‘scoop’. 

“What a bond, it's obvious you're very close! We know you, without truly knowing you. We see you saving Paris, but we know next to nothing about you.” 

“So, it's your lucky day, you can ask us anything!” Chat said, rolling forward out of his lounge and putting a hand on Ladybug’s shoulder, which made Ladybug frown ever so slightly and move his hand from her shoulder to his knee. 

“Within reason, of course. Our identities must stay secret!” 

Two vibrations and she could just see the color out of the corner of her eye. 

Into the yellow now. 

“Of course.” 

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#“So, let’s start with what you can tell us about how it all began!”# 

Lila turned the volume down slightly and hit restore, shrinking the live-stream tab so it only took up the left half of her screen, and letting her see and access the browser window she had open and taking up the right half of the screen. She listened to the interview with half an ear as she idly scrolled through various items on display at the Louvre, debating maybe heading over there sometime soon. There were so many things of interest there after all, the Celtic Collection and Egyptian Collection especially caught her eye, as they’d only be there till the end of next month. 

Also, huh, apparently Mayor Bourgeois was trying to curry favor, as he’d donated several pieces of jewelry to the museum, one of which had a pride of place as it was apparently very old – ancient even – very expensive, and had been involved in one of the akumatized attacks on the city. Lila zoomed in on the picture. Huh. Pretty bauble bracelet. 

Lila switched the zoom back to zero and leaned back from her computer, paying attention to the interview for a moment, but while Nadja was TRYING to lead the conversation towards the duo’s Miraculi and where and how they’d gotten them, the heroes were having none of it… although they were at least having none of it very politely. Lila pulled her phone out of her pocket and idly scrolled through the photo-gallery – only to jump when the phone rang. Lila sighed and muted the computer. Her parents were going over paperwork for diplomatic matters and trusted Lila to act as their ‘Phone Operator’ when everyone was in the house. 

Lila rolled her chair back to the nightstand and picked up the phone, mentally switching gears to ‘formal diplomats’ daughter’. “Hello, you’ve reached the Rossi Residence. May I please ask for your name and reason for calling so that I can direct your call? … Mmhmm? …Yes. …No. …No. … It is Madame Altermere Rossi, not Mademoiselle Althemere Rossi. …Yes, I’m certain. …Common error, I understand, of course. …Very well, hold please.” 

Lila hit the hold button and got out of her chair and walked into the living room. “Mamma?” 

He mom looked up, sliding a few of the long strands of auburn hair that had escaped her ponytail back behind her ear. “Yes, love?” 

“Call for you about a private meeting tomorrow on the land line. One of the ‘papers’ folks, didn’t get your name right.” 

Her mom sighed and got to her feet, heading towards the den where she could answer the phone with as little background noise as possible, giving Lila a one-armed hug as she went past. “Thanks, love.” 

“No trouble.” Lila started to head back to her room, then paused as a thought – quickly followed by a cunning plan – occurred to her. “Papà?" 

“Yes?” 

“Can I use my cell phone to call in to try to get on the TVi interview?” 

“Of course you may.” 

Lila nodded and took a step towards her room, then paused and turned back. “I’m probably going to do some luck and speech magic so I don’t fumble and look like an idiot, if that’s okay?” 

Her father looked up from his paper work, frowning slightly. “You’ll stick to things your mother has given approval of, right? And nothing too big or flashy? With all these magic-based superheroes in Paris, there probably are other magic users in the area and I don’t want anyone coming to explore sudden spikes of power.” 

“I’ll only use Mamma approved subtle stuff,” Lila promised with a smile, one hand over her heart, the other held up in oath. 

“Alright then. Do you still want me to go over your math and Russian homework with you later?” 

“Yup. I can’t figure it out.” 

“Alright. We’ll go over it in an hour or so. Go make your call, love.” 

Lila smiled again and headed into her room, ignoring her normal jewelry box and instead opening up her oak and iron one. She rummaged around for a minute and finally pulled out a silver choker with a topaz in a silver center piece, small ametrines fitted around it, as well as her two favorite luck bracelets. She put them on, then Lila grabbed a small key and unlocked the bottom drawers, sliding them open. From the left drawer she grabbed a stone-bead rope-necklace made with alternating nuummite, clear quartz, clear topaz, clear calcite rhombohedron, and peacock ore-all carved into cats, owls and chameleons. From the center drawer she grabbed a silk bag holding clear quartz stones, and from the right-hand drawer she grabbed an empty silk bag and a pair of silk gloves. The rope necklace went into the empty bag, then both bags and the gloves were tucked into her pants pockets. 

There. All ready. 

She closed the jewelry box and locked the drawers, and went back to her computer, pulling up the TVi website. She grabbed her cellphone and entered the number, putting a big smile on as her call was answered. “Hello, I’m Lila Rossi. I saw you’re doing an interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir and I just HAD to try my luck and see if I could be one of your Callers!” 

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#“And now we move on to day-to-day troubles and super heroics! How do you two mana-”# 

Regaal glanced up when the TV was turned off, and smiled when he saw his Chosen’s expression. Ah, so it seemed his Chosen was picking up on the situation. 

“Regaal?” 

“Yes, Chosen?” 

“Do I have… earlier, at lunch, when I was trying to find Shadowhawk, I… knew… that someone had seen me. I just… knew I’d been seen and from which direction. That if I didn’t get out of sight I’d be found out.” 

Regaal smiled and took to the air to be at eye level as he waved a languid hand. “Go on.” 

“…Am I a jedi now?” 

Regaal blinked and sank several centimeters before he caught himself. “Eh?” 

“Am I a jedi?” 

Regaal sighed and pressed a hand to his face. “Chosen. …Darling… let’s start with the assumption that I have no idea what a ‘jedi’ is and move from there.” 

“You don’t know Star Wars?!” 

“I can say with certainty that I do not.” 

“…Gonna have to fix that. But… uh… okay, so jedi can see things before they happen so they have super fast reactions and have a sixth sense and can tell when someone is watching them and stuff like that.” 

“Hmm. Then yes, that fits the gift you now have.” 

His Chosen paced for several minutes, then turned to look at Regaal. “So this… I know something is going to happen, that’s my having jedi senses?” 

“Foresight, Darling, foresight. But yes, that is what you’re currently feeling.” 

“Then I’d better get going to get there in time. Regaal, transform me!” 

A flash of blue light, and a moment later, the Peacock Chosen leapt out into the night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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“Well, that does about wrap up the questions on how you two manage to balance living normal lives and still saving the people of Paris at least once a week! How about we now go to some questions from your fans?” Nadja said with a small smile as she gestured towards the wall of monitors. 

Now, to see who Arlette had chosen for the four questions. That should give her an idea of what Arlette wanted, and hopefully would be an easy way of keeping the ‘ratings’ watch in the yellow. Maybe even get it up into the green. 

“Yes, with pleasure!” Ladybug said, and Nadja was relieved to see that the superhero seemed to be overall relaxed now, her shoulders no longer tense, her back no longer ramrod straight. 

Nadja tapped the link icon on her tablet and blinked when the watched spiked all the way into the green. …Who was on the other end of this call? 

“Good evening, dear viewer! Introduce yourself and what is your question?” 

“Are you for real, Nadja?” Chloé said as the screen cleared, the blonde losing her smile and aiming a flat look at whatever the pickup device was for her. 

…Well… this did not say good things for the rest of the interview. 

“I don't see who else but me would call first, I am the most prestigious fan of Chat Noir,” Chloé said with a huff… and Nadja felt several vibrations in rapid succession. She didn’t need to look down to know the ratings had just dropped right back into the yellow, if not all the way down into the red. Nadja knew, thanks to keeping a loose eye on the Ladyblog as it was – for a beginner and teenager – a very well set up site and source of information, that Chloé no longer considered herself a fan of Ladybug. … but Nadja would be willing to bet a year’s salary that Arlette had not been aware of that and had thought Chloé would be focusing on Ladybug to an extreme degree, which likely would have made both of the heroes uncomfortable at best. 

“Yes, of course! Good evening, Chloé Bourgeois, daughter of Mayor Andre Bourgeois. What is your question?” 

Nadja tacked a genuine smile onto her face and sparkle in her eyes, nodding slightly even as she mentally tuned Chloé out for the moment as she considered the… well… fall-out from this. It was fairly obvious given the way Arlette’s rating watch had spiked up then down so sharply that Arlette thought Chloé would be focusing on Ladybug, perhaps even hoping that it would make both of the heroes uncomfortable, as Arlette had long had a standing stance that ‘conflict sells when all else fails’. …It was worrying, to Nadja’s mind at least, that Arlette had been so willing to essentially throw her own daughter under the wheels for this, as if Chloé had done what Arlette likely was EXPECTING it would have soured public opinion on Chloé to one degree or another, possibly even impacting Arlette’s ex-husband, the mayor. 

And wasn’t that just the perfect thought to spike up a heart-rate? 

Nadja took in the body language of the two heroes, and mentally winced as she realized that Chloé was likely purposefully slathering attention on Chat Noir this publicly as a subtle jibe at Ladybug. Something she’d picked up from her mother? Or just a teenager being a teenager? 

But all of this also made Nadja worry about her big scoop. Would it be enough conflict to appease Arlette? Without irreparably damaging the professional relationship Nadja had with the two heroes? It should be alright. After all, she had chosen the scoop she did to try and generate attention without negativity, and Paris WAS the City of Love, so… 

…So, it should be alright on all factors. No one truly hurt, everyone decently happy, and Nadja not fired and not blacklisted. 

Right? 

* * *

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> Notes... that were far FAR too big for the end notes block 
> 
> So four major changes from canon here, all of them related to families of secondary characters!  
>  MASSIVE change from canon here, as I have Arlette NoSurnameGiven as Arlette Bourgeois, Chloé’s mom and Andre Bourgeois’ estranged wife. (I’ll be honest, I thought she WAS Chloé’s mom in Audimatrix and it wasn’t really until Style Queen that I realized my mistake. The way we never get a clear look at her with there always being bright lights blocking view or seeing her from behind added to that, making it seem important that we didn’t get a clear look OR her know what her surname was). …and Arlette being the big boss of big bosses at TVi works better, to me, than her being some distant figure in New York involved in the fashion industry. …Also, I’ll be frank that unlike in canon, CHLOÉ DOES NOT IDOLOIZE AND IMITATE her mother. Good lord, show. It might be the two decades of experience and the psyc certificate I have speaking/influencing me, but I hated every second of Chloé and Audrey’s canon interaction because that… THAT DOES NOT MATCH UP WITH CHLOÉ’S BEHAVIOR PATTERNS… and the end message, after TWO EPISODES of some of the most vicious verbal and emotional abuse I’ve EVER seen on television aimed at preteens… was ‘oh you should totally forgive and love each other!’  
>  No.  
>  No no no no no no NO  
>  Fucking HELL NO  
>  With Gabriel we at least have evidence that he DOES Love Adrien, is not KNOWINGLY engaging in emotional abuse and is (outside of being a supervillain) primarily only guilty of NEGLECT. Neglect that is canonically RECENT and tied to Emilie’s ‘disappearance’ which happens to a LOT of parents/families IRL. (Yes, the abuse/neglect is bad and shouldn’t be happening or encouraged. I am not denying that)  
>  Audrey?  
>  Audrey is someone I would be calling child services on the second I met her and would not rest until I got the kid(s) AWAY from her and made it clear how severe and serious the situation was.  
>  What the ever loving HELL show.  
>  So there is no AUDREY Bourgeois.  
>  ARLETTE Bourgeois is a rather nasty, very controlling woman who has basically removed herself from her husband and daughter’s life and didn’t exactly have a good relationship with them in the first place. She’s even waived off/refused to have Chloé spend any time with her, even on holidays.  
>  She’s flawed, she’s not a good person. But she is no where NEAR the ***MONSTER*** that Audrey Bourgeois is.  
>  _Side note: the ‘you are not required to forgive your abusers’ applies to Marinette and the class as well in relation to Chloé, although I honestly think the show overstates Chloé to a stupidly extreme degree. Marinette and the class ARE NOT REQUIRED to forgive Chloé._  
>  HOWEVER.  
>  The over the top shite pulled this season like claiming that Chloé was responsible for MOST of the akumatizations, the implications that she was as bad/worse than Papillon, the school INCLUDING THE TEACHERS AND STAFF celebrating and dancing at her leaving, and teachers smugly snarking and insulting her is also INCREDIBLY WRONG and I hate that the show did it.)  
>    
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  Finalized what I’m going to do for Alya’s family!  
>  I know it breaks canon but honestly at this point I’m not entirely certain I CARE :/  
>  Otis is Otis Racoviță (we see that his surname starts with an R in Animan. That’s why I’m so certain that Otis was NOT originally scripted to be part of Alya’s family and was instead used due to lack of assets in the Christmas Special), he’s Marlena’s younger brother and Alya’s uncle. Tonton is creole for uncle (or at least it’s the word my Cajun and Creole family members use) and thus I had Alya use it, much as she uses Manman instead of Maman.  
>  Marlena married a young man named Frank Césaire from Martinique who was in Paris to attend university there in the early/mid 90s, and they moved to Martinique when both graduated, where Marlena worked as a head cook at one of the main hotels, while Frank worked as a nurse.  
> 
> 
>   * Alya is the eldest sibling (14 going on 15), born in 1999. (For what happened to Nora/where Nora is, check out the notes on her below!!)
>   * There was a middle child, a brother named Ray born in 2005 (Given that in some dubs Alya refers to having a brother instead of sisters, it seemed fitting).
>   * The twins, Ella and Etta were born in 2010 and are currently 4 going on 5. Since the show STILL has not named them on camera, let alone tell us which is which, I finally just went Ella-blue and Etta-pink
> 

> 
>   
>  In early 2010, shortly before the twins were born, Frank was out fishing on a boat with Ray (5) and a few of his siblings in a family tradition when an out of season storm hit… Alya (9) was not out with them as she’d come down with a nasty cold, and Marlena was not out with them as she was heavily pregnant. The boat and all hands were lost at sea.  
>  In May of 2013, Marlena moved back to Paris, buying an apartment as she was being overwhelmed raising three children on her own and the hotel she worked as head cook at was going to shut down for several months for renovations and Otis’ offer for her to come back home to Paris so he could help out (and a position of Head Cook opening up at Le Grand Paris) was too tempting. Otis left his single bedroom loft apartment to move in with his sister and nieces to help with rent and so that there’d be a ‘father’ figure for the kids, as well as a second adult to just help out in general.  
>  By the time we meet her in Origins, it’s been ~four years since the boat was lost at sea and Alya has, pretty much, dealt with it and her feelings about it, as has Marlena. The twins have no memory at all of their father and brother and thus it doesn’t really impact them.  
>  Alya DID learn CPR from her father at a very young age (7) but that was around the age when *I* was first taught CPR so it seems believable to me. Alya has kept up with the training, getting refresher courses every few years to make sure she doesn’t pick up bad habits or unlearn something due to lack of use.  
>    
>  Some changes from canon. Mostly I gave the apartment a BATHROOM, something that is kinda NEEDED. I also turned the odd nook in the Master Bedroom into a closet.  
>  I also altered Alya’s room because gosh darn it there should be more to her than just ‘Ladybug fan’. So the Ladybug rug was turned into a Martinique Flag rug as a tribute to her origins/birthplace. One of the rooms was changed into a Den/Guest room, the other is currently being used as a pantry/storage room with plans for one of the twins to have it when they get old enough to want separate rooms. Marlena and Otis share the master bedroom, although they have separate beds.  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  There is no ‘Nora Césaire’, instead the character of Nora has been aged up slightly to be in her mid 30s instead of mid 20s and had her name changed to Nancy to better match up with her original concept art.  
>  ‘Nora Césaire’ is now Nancy Lahiffe, Nino’s mom and a professional MMA fighter who is often out of town (and out of country) for her matches.  
>  Nancy was born and raised in Reunion, and while travelling for MMA matches, she met Nino’s father in Morocco. They married and later had Nino in Reunion, moving to Paris when Nino was three years old. (Older tweets from Astruc had Nino’s family coming from Reunion, which makes sense as it – like the Berbers and Martinique – are technically still French. Then someone asked if Nino was from Morocco and Astruc just went with that despite previous statements. …So Nino’s paternal family is Moroccan, but his maternal family is from Reunion, and Nino was born there… but has spent pretty much his full life in Paris and considers himself Parisian)  
>    
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>  So just like with Nora/Nancy and Audry/Arlette (and technically with the Césaires) I decided to ignore canon and do my own thing with Lila… Mostly because I actually wrote this chapter MONTHS before Catalyst… and also because I have Lila attending school instead of the stupid ‘Where in the World is Lila Sandiego?’ of canon. Pluuuuuuuuus I’ve got plans for Lila’s family that will be a primary motivator for Lila moving forward… plus a stable, healthy, calm family was something I wanted to write/show…  
>    
>  M. Andy Rossi and Mme. Altermere Rossi  
>  Gingersnap reciepe to whoever figures out who Lila’s mom is/what her backstory is from hints given!  
>  One clue:  
>  I pulled far more from the comics of the Italian source than the show of the italian source for Mme. Rossi  
>  Oh and her Dad's given name is Andy, and he hails from an Italian source as well, although it's a different (yet simular) comic/show^^  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was REALLY obvious from the framing that Chat Noir was NOT considered to be ‘enough’ on his own. Arlette (and to a degree Nadja and the rest of the show) pretty obviously want LADYBUG to show up. She’s the draw, she’s the focus. It’s unfair and sexist… but it’s the angle the show pushes so what you gonna do. Pretty much all did was borrow from the English dub a bit where Arlette made it clear that LB was the ‘draw’ and CN wasn’t enough solo…  
> And I remembered the fact that Chat’s hearing is EXTREMELY good, and thus he’d be able to hear the conversation… most likely from the ear piece as the studio booth is usually sound proofed to one degree or another.  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> Regaal has overall ended up being an amalgamation of Edna Mode, Starlite and Conan the Barbarian and I LOVE him. XD  
> I honestly am also glad that the peafowl kwami has yet to be named or show up in show (as of the time of this posting) as it gives me a little more leeway with Regaal and make me feel a bit less guilty about going AU with him like I have. He's eating nightshade berries based off the old myth that peacocks could eat poisonous plants without harm/ate them to get their bright colors/ate them for immortality.  
> He also LOOKS very different from the canon peafowl kwami, and I honestly had a TON of fun designing him  
> 
> 
> I ended up using the name Duusu for an OC Green Peahen kwami, and I had tons of fun designing her too (she eats pomegranate aryls)  
> 


	11. Chapter 11

Monghost tucked herself deeper into the shadows where she hid on top of the skyscraper.

Patience. She was very good at it. It was what had moved her up the ranks, and drew Monarch’s attention to her, what had led to her being given the very complex – and exacting – mission of finding and capturing Adrien Agreste… 

She felt a sudden sharp pain in her temples as the Mark of Papillon flared to life, although – for the moment – he said nothing to her. 

Waiting. What for, she wondered. Did he have plans for tonight? He did, after all, know where the two heroes would be and neither hero was at their best in cramped conditions like a tv studio. Why he did not have Monghost go in to attack, however was- 

_~I have my reasons. Predominantly is that while the duo would be slightly hampered by cramped conditions… the studio they will be filming in is not very cramped and indeed is comparatively open, negating the advantage you seek to have. The other is that I fully expect to be able to akumatize the show host and her abilities, according to my Akuma… should be most useful – allowing me to keep you as an unknown element should… it… be… What. Is. That.~_

Monghost blinked and tilted her head, confused. _~It is a boy in a blue tuxedo with a green cape.~_

_~…~_

Although that did raise the question of what he was doing up here, and how he’d gotten up here for that ma- 

_~Obviously he flew. Forget Ladybug and Chat Noir for the moment, go deal with HIM and retrieve the Peacock Miraculous!!~_

Monghost started to move then paused. Wait, did that mean that if she got the Peacock Miraculous she wouldn’t need to get the Ladybug and Black Cat in order to have Papillon continue to protect her from Monarch? 

_~Not in the slightest,~_ Papillon snapped harshly. _~Our deal was for those particular two Miraculi with you providing aid in any other needed matters.~_

Damn. 

Nothing for it. Monarch was terrifying, and had a long reach. Her only option of survival was to fulfill her half of the deal with Papillon. 

Monghost waited until the blue clad boy turned around, then leapt out silently at the peacock themed hero, phasing through the stairwell entrance and air-conditioning exhaust that was in her way, flipping quickly to drive her heel straight for the back of his neck in a vicious stri- 

The boy dove to the side, going into a roll as Monghost went sailing through the space he HAD been in before leaping up to land on top of one of the massive billboards that adorned the top of the building. 

Monghost landed in a roll of her own, partially phasing through the roof before she caught herself and pushed herself up and free, heart hammering for a wild moment as she glared up at the blue and green clad form. 

“Who are you!?” 

“Monghost.” 

The boy opened his mouth then paused. “…Okay, I was going to say something clever and heroic but. Um. I don’t really have anything planned because I thought you’d refuse to tell me your name so everything I had lined up just fell flat. Can weeeEEAACK!” 

Monghost landed on top of the billboard, but the boy was flying backwards in the air away from her. Damn, he’d dodged again. How was he doing that? She’d managed to score several hits on Shadowhawk when the ‘tracker’ Champion had been akumatized and before Monghost herself had been. 

So how was one kid evading her? 

_~Perhaps you are not so skilled as you promised me you were,~ Papillon commented acidly. ~Leave the skyscraper, chase him down. I want that Miraculous!~_

Monghost leapt off the skyscraper after the flying superhero without second thought. 

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“Thank you for everything, Chloé Bourgeois. New call!” 

That was an experience Nadja Chamack never wanted to repeat. Chloé, oddly, had not been the primary issue. Oh, she’d been a bit rude and very full of herself, but she’d been passably polite and had lavished praise on one of the heroes and simply ignored the other. Behavior completely normal for a teenage girl. 

What had made the two-minute call unbearable had been Arlette’s occasional snide comments – cutting barbs aimed at Arlette’s own daughter! – during the call. It could have been worse, of course, Arlette might have made the comments in a public forum where others would have heard her insult and disparage her daughter. 

…but Nadja had seen Chat Noir’s cat-ears twitch each time Arlette had spoken. Had seen his gaze occasionally almost flicker towards the ear-piece Nadja wore… and each time he’d turned up the charm for Chloé; brighter smiles, kinder words, more sparkle to his eyes. 

Was Arlette aware of Chat Noir’s hearing or not? If she was not, then she’d just been venting about her daughter ‘privately’… cruel enough but not so bad as it could be really. If Arlette WAS aware, then she might have been trying to make Ladybug more uncomfortable, might have been trying to make Chat Noir uncomfortable, might have been trying to make Chloé uncomfortable if the girl realized why Chat was laying it on thick as he had… might even have been targeting all three. 

And Arlette’s ‘rating-watch’ had stayed in the red the whole time. 

Surely, SURELY, the next call would be better. 

The Ratings Watch buzzed several times as the screen cleared to show a brunette girl in a red jacket. Given it had been on the last red bar, Nadja would be willing to bet it had just shot all the way back to the green. 

Unfortunately, while Arlette obviously approved of whoever this girl was… the two heroes did not, if Nadja was any judge of body language and expressions. 

So much for this call being better. 

Still. Nadja put a broad smile on and a sparkle in her eyes. Make the best of it and maybe everyone else would too. 

“Good evening, dear viewer! Introduce yourself and what is your question?” 

#“Good evening, you may call me Lila Rossi,”# the brunette said brightly with a charming smile. 

“Welcome, Lila. What is your question?” 

#“Thank you for the welcome. My question is for my dear friend Ladybug, I wanted to ask her about that little confusion after the incident of The Pharaoh, mostly about the three-thousand-five hundred years old matter and why Ladybug never went to clarify the truth.”# 

…Wonderful. 

It wasn’t going to be a repeat of Chloé’s call. 

It was going to be WORSE. Nadja looked over to the two heroes to judge their reactions to the question as Lila talked about various inaccuracies in the time-frame Ladybug and Alya had talked about during the event, and about how all the little things didn’t add up and how maybe what Ladybug had meant was that she was a ‘Legacy’ superhero with roots in Ancient Egypt? Because Ancient Egypt was amazing, just look at the exhibit at the Louvre and- 

Chat Noir looked nervous, although he was doing his best to hide it. But his smile was now fake and forced, his eyes darting between this Lila and Ladybug, and his ‘casual lounge’ on the chair was fake as well, his entire frame tense. Nadja doubted that casual viewers would pick up on it, unless the cameras were zooming in and focusing on it to draw attention to it ( _which was possible, given how the rest of this interview had gone_ ). 

Ladybug looked angry, although she was apparently trying to hide and contain it, with only limited success. Her shoulders were tight, her back ramrod straight, her hands tightly fisted where she had them on her knees, her jaw clenched and her eyes burning. 

Nadja winced, finger drifting towards the ‘signal lost’ button that would let her cut off the call without loss of face for the statio- 

#“Don’t. Even. THINK. About cutting this off, Nadja. Not if you want to get time-slot, not if you want to keep your job, not if you want to avoid being blacklisted.”# 

Chat Noir’s cat-ears twitched and he looked from Ladybug to Nadja, meeting her eyes for one moment before he looked at Ladybug again, then set his jaw and looked towards the screen and Lila, putting a big smile on his face as he suddenly leapt into the fray. 

“What do you mean the times are off, Lila? Wasn’t Tut five thousand years ago? I was so CERTAIN that’s the case!” he pulled out his baton and taped on the pawprint with his thumb, having it slide open and quickly typed on it . “I mean the internet wouldn’t LIE to me, would it?!” 

Lila blinked rapidly and looked at Chat with a slightly poleaxed expression, apparently derailed. #“What. No. That’s… you’re off by nearly TWO THOUSAND years!”# 

“Nah, can’t be!” Chat chirped. He held his baton-screen right in front of Ladybug's face and pointed at whatever was on it with a huge smile. “Back me up here my Lady!” 

#“Five thousand years ago would be roughly the time of Narmer!”# 

Ladybug stared at the screen for a moment, skimming over whatever was on it, then her expression cleared and she aimed a confused and innocent look at Lila “Wouldn’t it be Iry-Hor?” 

#“…I guess, maybe, but but he wasn't really a Pharaoh technically so-”# 

“Who?” Chat asked with total apparent innocence, blinking his eyes at Lila. 

#“…IRY-HOR! First… uh, well King might a be better term but… He’s the OLDEST KNOWN NAMED PERSON!”# 

“So the Pharaoh we dealt with was him?” 

#“NO! How could you… The Pharaoh pretty much said he was Tut!”# 

“Really? Huh, I thought-” 

Nadja felt herself relax slightly as Chat bumbled along, letting Lila show off her knowledge without making her look the fool and taking Lila’s attention off Ladybug. While it was still tense and strife was without a doubt happening… the fact that Chat seemed to be playing the fool on purpose made it more… palatable to Nadja. The way that Ladybug seemed to have figured out what Chat was doing ( _if not why_ ) and was helping and playing the calm reasonable one correcting Chat but otherwise staying out of the fray seemed to be helping the heroine settle down. 

Good partners, who knew and trusted each other enough to follow the other’s lead, with real fondness for the other even in a situation like this. 

…which maybe meant they’d actually take her scoop well? 

If nothing else it shouldn’t be as bad as this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Alien_Duck pointed out I'd made a grammatical goof with Monghost that made what was going on confusing. Fixed!! ^^
> 
> ~~~~~~
> 
> Still not 100% certain where in the 15th the TVi building is =_= The fact that it hasn’t really been shown twice in the same ‘place’ in establishing shots doesn’t help at ALL. It’s even jumped sides of the Seine… and gone from right by the river to no river in sight and more.
> 
>  I went with the English Dub on it being Tut instead of Aken for many MANY reasons. It’s not perfect but it’s BETTER than it being Aken by a long ( _long. Long long. Long long LONG long. Long long_ ) stretch.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One small change is that instead of still images, some of the bits Nadja uses are video recordings. …They’re also all from angles that actually MAKE SENSE for someone to have recorded it from. I don’t really bring it up in fic-proper as that just… well it disrupted flow. So it’s here instead! ^^

“Thank you so much for your questions, Lila Rossi,” Nadja said, “Now onto our last caller for the night!”

“A-Actually, I’m afraid I might have to cut my part of this interview short!” Ladybug said suddenly, looking at something behind Nadja. Nadja frowned slightly, trying to remember what was in the direction of Ladybug’s attention, but outside of the wall clocks and a few instrument boards, there was nothing there that she could remember, let alone something to warrant such a look of concern from Ladybug. “I’m sure Chat Noir will be able to answer your general questions, don’t let him flirt too outrageously with you, he doesn’t mean a word of it!” 

“I only flirt with you, my Queen of Hearts,” Chat said with a brief, genuine smile as Ladybug shifted, preparing to get to her feet. 

#“What's happening, Nadja?”# Arlette demanded with a snap, making Nadja jump slightly. #“Is this a joke?!”# 

Nadja couldn’t help the small gulp, her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach. It had been a long time since she’d heard Arlette THIS angry. She quickly tacked on a smile as Chat leaned over towards Ladybug with a casual air to start whispering ‘sweet nothings’ in her ear… Likely trying to relay what he had to have just heard Arlette say over the Bluetooth – possibly what Arlette had just said, but Nadja found herself hoping he was also trying to quick tell Ladybug about how much hinged on this interview for Nadja… and how that so far as Arlette was concerned… this interview was an Interview of Ladybug, Chat Noir would not be able to ‘hold’ the show on his own. 

#“We're going to the scoop. Now.”# 

She had to act fast, before she lost momentum and from there control of the situation. “Errr, Ladybug, Chat Noir-” 

Both superheroes jumped slightly, looking a bit guilty, like they’d been caught out. Chat shifted away from Ladybug to lean back against the couch again, but Ladybug’s gaze was darting from Nadja to the screens and back again. 

Nadja tapped her fingers together for a moment trying to remember her planned phrasing, but Ladybug starting to shift forward and opening her mouth to speak sent a spike of panic through Nadja and she quickly bulldozed forward. She did at least remember the CLIFF NOTES version of her intended statement. “Numerous fans think you're a couple of superheroes. But also, I quote, ‘a couple’, period.” 

Chat Noir instantly relaxed, as if he’d been expecting something along those lines. 

Which fit with Nadja’s initial assessment that whoever Chat ‘really’ was, he’d been interviewed before… and likely had people asking about his love life to no end. 

Ladybug, however… 

“Huh?! What?” 

Seemed utterly shocked at best, jumping in her seat slightly and flailing her arms in inarticulate protest. 

Nadja’s eyes narrowed for a moment, even as she smiled softly. Well. That was a reaction sure to please Arlette, as well as being ever so slightly adorable. “Can you confirm it's true?” 

“I'm really sorry, Nadja, but, we're superheroes!” Ladybug said, waving her hands in negation with a scowl. “We're not here to answer such personal questions!” 

_‘Methinks the Lady doth protest too much.’_ Nadja thought in amusement. 

Chat Noir seemed to think so as well as he moved to sit further forward, crossing his arms and watching Ladybug with a fond smile, glancing away from her to meet Nadja’s eyes. 

Well, at least one of the heroes seemed to be taking this well. 

Chat chuckled then leaned back again, uncrossing his arms to waggle a clawed hand at his partner. “Meow, My Lady gets her claws out.” 

Ladybug’s shoulders relaxed and she smiled fondly at Chat then looked back to Nadja. “We're here to tell Parisians they'll be alright, and that it's only a matter of time before we defeat the Papillon, that's all.” 

Nadja blinked. Huh, that was not the reaction she’d been expec- 

#“You said a scoop, supporting evidence,”# Arlette snapped, and Nadja felt the ratings watch vibrate sharply several times, dumping Nadja all the way down to one red bar again. 

Okay, no gentle lead in to keep the mood relaxed. She had to act now or be blacklisted from working in television ever again. Both heroes SEEMED relaxed now, and they’d been flirting outrageously the whole interview, this should… 

This had to work. “Alright. So how do you explain these pictures?” Nadja asked, tapping the control on her tablet and looking over to see- 

…Oh dear… that hadn’t been the image she’d programmed to be first in the montage. 

She’d planned to end on the kiss, build up to it with it being the strongest supporting evide- 

“What?!” Chat yelped, one hand gripping the arm of the couch, claws digging deep into the fabric. He twisted around sharply to stare at Ladybug, who looked shocked, one hand covering her mouth as she stared at the screen with wide eyes. 

“When did THAT happen?!” Chat demanded. 

‘ _When did_ ’… How had he not KNOWN?! He’d been controlled by an akumatized at the time, yes… but how in the WORLD had he managed to avoid finding out that Ladybug had kissed him ( _passionately and in full view to the public_ ) to break the spell for over THREE MONTHS!? 

“I was trying to save you, not kiss you!” Ladybug snapped, glaring first at Chat Noir, then Nadja herself. 

Which… well that didn’t feel fair to Nadja. She was just asking about what seemed to be a very obvious relationship AND the duo had been flirting for well over an hour! 

What was a reporter to think!? 

#“Well played.”# The watch vibrated and Nadja risked a glance down while all cameras focused on Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

The watch was back in the yellow, heading for the green. 

#“Keep it up.”# 

Nadja tapped her tablet, and next up was a video file, in fact it was the one she’d intended to start the montage on, of Chat Noir taking one of Dislocœur’s arrows to the back, and the moment of flirting that had taken place right before it. Next was a series of images – some grainy, some clear – of the many times Ladybug had scratched Chat Noir under the chin or on his scalp as if he were actually a cat. Several still images and videos of the duo traveling over the city and how close and comfortable they were with each other, the many times the duo had tackled the other out of the way of an attack and ended up sprawled over each other, finishing up on a quick montage of the many ( _many_ ) times Chat Noir had taken a blow for Ladybug, finishing up on the well known moment of Chat Noir being erased from time during the Timebreaker split-timeline incident ( _which still gave Nadja a headache to think about_ ). 

Both heroes were staring at the screen in shock, although Nadja wasn’t really certain why – certainly just how often they flirted – with each other and with danger – was something they were aware of and used to after nearly a year? 

“We can clearly see you're in love,” Nadja started, smiling when Chat Noir’s attention snapped to her as if thunder-struck. 

Ladybug surged to her feet and stomped forward, standing between Chat Noir and Nadja – trying to put herself in the position of power in the interview – as she waved a hand at the screen with a betrayed expression. “That doesn't mean anything, these images are taken out of their context!” She put her fists on her hips, her expression falling back into a scowl. “What were doing was our job! We save the city together everyday! We're not a couple!” 

Chat Noir seemed to come back to himself and fell back into the casual mask, smiling and leaning back again as if nothing were wrong as he offered a breezy, “Well, for now, anyway.” 

Clever, trying to underplay the situation and settle things down in a way that wouldn’t anger any fans watching. SOMEONE had been interviewed in this sort of situation quite a few times before. 

“Chat Noir, not now!” 

…annnnnd someone else had not. 

“Why are you refusing to admit it?” Nadja asked, tilting her head slightly. She stayed in her seat, fighting the instinct to stand as well to put herself on equal footing with Ladybug. That was the instinct of a normal woman with a normal job, not the instinct of a reporter. Defusing the situation and letting Ladybug calm down so they could finish the interview was the best route at the moment. 

“But, there's nothing to admit, Nadja!” Ladybug snapped. Her eyes darted past Nadja, and widened as she saw something behind Nadja off-stage, and she suddenly pulled her yoyo off her hip and slid it open, her jaw clenching before she snapped it closed. 

“Your fans will be very disappointed to not have an answer.” 

Ladybug scowled again, closing her eyes and stomping a foot as she slashed the air with both hands. “This interview stops now,” she growled, then reached over and grabbed Chat Noir by the arm, trying to drag him to his feet. 

“What are you doing?” He demanded, trying to shift his weight to stay seated, eyes darting to Nadja for a moment before looking back to Ladybug. 

“Erm…” Ladybug held her yoyo right in Chat Noir’s face, making him jerk backwards to avoid being beaned in the nose. “We have an emergency.” Ladybug yanked Chat up to his feet and stomped towards the door, hauling him behind her by sheer, enraged, force. “Paris needs us, and now!” 

“Sorry, duty calls!” Chat offered with an attempt at a smile and wave as he stumbled along, dragged in Ladybug’s wake. “Gotta do what you gotta do...” 

#“Don't let them go!”# 

Nadja scrambled to her feet and offered a quick smile to the cameras before rushing off-stage, trusting that Arlette’s oldest rule about how backstage couldn’t be filmed to keep the cameras from following her as she ran up to the heroes. A glance at the feed-screen showed that they’d cut to Nadja’s montage with pleasant music overlaying it. 

They hadn’t cut to another show, there was still a chance to salvage her career. “Wait!” 

Ladybug paused in the act of yanking, almost ripping, the exit door open. She didn’t look back, but Chat Noir did and Nadja decided to try to glean a bit of hope from that. 

“The show isn't over, the fans will be very disappointed if you don't answer them. Even if it’s that you are not a couple, that is still an answer, and once answered we can move on to-” 

Ladybug’s shoulders tensed and her free hand fisted. “I know our real fans will understand our decision.” 

And with that Ladybug stormed through the door and was gone. 

Chat glanced back and forth for a moment, then plastered a smile on and offered a bow as he backed through the door and left as well. “I defer to my Lady’s commands!” He paused at the threshold and lost the smile. “But I’ll try to talk to her, Nadja. Don’t lose hope.” 

Nadja reached out, but the door closed with a solid thunk… and behind her, she could hear the feed cut to a commercial break. 

#“You can say goodbye to prime time, Nadja. Your show was a real disaster.”# 

Nadja fell to her knees on the unforgiving concrete floor, sobbing.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pissed off bad-guy lets off a curse… only one and not in english but *shrugs*…

Ladybug landed on top of the TVi building and stomped along the cement barrier to try and work off some of the anger that had built up inside her chest before-

“Alright, who are we saving this time?” 

“Us! Nadja was ready to do anything to make sure people watch her show!” 

“Not so much her as Arlette,” Chat said, spitting the name out slightly with a scowl. 

“Oh don’t ‘Arlette’ me, who even is Arlette!? And you! What was with you pandering to Chloé like that when she was being so rude!?” 

“Arlette is Mme. Bourgeoise, boss of bosses of TVI and Chloé’s mom and… you didn’t hear – can’t have heard – what she was saying about Chloé during that call! I didn’t… Chloé didn’t deserve THAT even if she couldn’t hear it either! And I didn’t pander I was just nice!” Chat broke off and shook his head. “Ladybug, we really should go back and finish the interview. Nadja won’t press about the romance angle anymore, not after you left like this, and her career is riding on it, if what I heard was right and… I’m not enough for Arlette. It has to be you who comes back, my Lady, please.” 

Chloé’s MOM was in charge of TVi? …huh well that sure would explain what Alya and Nino suspected about TVi being not so good wouldn’t it, instead of it being the station itself… and maybe Chloé DESERVED her mom saying mean things about her! 

Ladybug winced slightly, shying away from the thought and swinging the conversation back around and away from it. “I had enough of Nadja’s inappropriate questions!” 

“That's the price of success, my Lady,” Chat said with a shrug and smile. “That's what being a star is.” 

“We're superheroes, not stars! Instead of doing our job, we're looking like idiots on TV!” 

Ladybug spun away from Chat and threw her yoyo, racing east and home and back to her duties as a babysitter and away from Nadja and TVi and Chat Noir and this entire MESS of an evening. 

“Hey! WAIT!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Over the rooftops of the 16th arrondissement, two silent shadows warred. 

One, in shades of brown and cream, was the aggressor, leaping through obstacles and trying to land an attack on the other. 

One, in shades of blue and green, was the aggressed, running and occasionally flying low over the buildings, dodging attacks by some chance of luck, skill or magic. 

Monghost had a feeling it was mostly magic, and her own apparently rotten luck. 

It was painfully obvious that he was NOT experienced, and he did not have backup as so far as she and Papillon could tell, he had yet to even meet with Ladybug and Chat Noir, let alone form an alliance. 

Monghost was skilled, knowledgeable, experienced. She could phase through solid objects like a ghost, could phase anything she was in contact with, had enhanced strength and lightning like speed and reflexes… 

But apparently also so unlucky that she must have done some truly horrible things in her past life to deserve THIS. Not only was she stuck in ‘phase’ and had to concentrate to have impact instead of just phasing through… but Papillon had decided that since she was worthless for the attack he’d planned tonight to akumatize someone else to handle Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

Which meant that almost all of his attention was on this ‘Audimatrix’, which would be bad enough, but to top it off it meant that Monghost kept getting distracted because apparently the Butterfly only had conference call as an option for his telepathy. 

She could just stop this chase, head back and help her ‘fellow akumatized’ out, that should solve the problem quickl- 

_~No, Monghost,~_ Papillon snapped. _~I want the Peacock Pin returned to me. Damaged though it is, it still is of import. You have observed the boy is new, untested and untrained. This should be an easy matter for one with the skills you possess.~_

Monghost growled and leapt up and forward, then twisted sharply in midair to the left, smirking as she just managed to snag the corner of the feathered-cape- 

-and down the two shadows fell out of the night sky and into the heavy trees of Bois de Boulogne, breaking apart when the Peacock Chosen pulled a quill from his fan, which expanded sharply into a foil like sword, which he stabbed at Monghost’s face with a snarled curse in a language Monghost didn’t know. 

She let go with a curse of her own, which meant the sword phased through her instead of striking… but it also meant that she phased all the way under the ground before she caught herself and leapt up and out in a flip that caught her opponent off guard, letting her land a solid heel-strike to his chest. 

He came up in an awkward roll, holding his ‘sword’ before him, jaw set and eyes wild. 

“If that’s how you want to do this, Parichod, then by all means…” Monghost settled into a fighting stance. “Let’s do this.” 

“Actually I’d rather not, so how about you let me leave before I stab you with the pointy end again?!” 

Monghost smirked, then attacked. All she had to do was keep the idiot child HERE, where the trees gave her a thousand different angles of attack, but limited HIS ability to dodge or fly. 

This would be over soon, and then she’d have her freedom. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

She had looked like an idiot! 

Ladybug leapt over the rooftops of Paris, all but shaking in rage. First with Chloé fawning over Chat Noir and Chat praising her, then with Lila and the whole Pharaoh debacle, then with the STUPID romance thing when she wasn’t in love with Chat Noir, not the slightest bit, not even a molecule of love! She loved-! 

Chat Noir landed like a thunderbolt in front of her on the rooftop of middle building of Lycée Roger Verlomme, forcing Ladybug to pull up short to avoid running headlong into him. 

“Hey!” 

“You aren’t the only person effected by this!” Chat snapped, cat-ears pinned flat to his hair and tail lashing wildly. 

Ladybug scowled at him and shoved past him, leaping to the next rooftop of the Lycée. “I just had my first kiss shown to the masses for a stupid interview, a kiss that was just to break a spell it wasn’t like I thought it was true-loves kiss or- I was just humiliated on liv-!! 

“THIS ISN’T JUST ABOUT YOU!” 

Ladybug spun to face Chat Noir, enraged at the world and at Nadja, but more than willing to take it out on Chat Noir. “First of all, HOW DARE Y-!” 

“At least you KNEW about it and had a CHOICE! At least you got REMEMBER your first kiss!!” 

Chat’s voice cracked slightly at the word remember, and Ladybug’s rage cracked with it. 

No. No, this wasn’t just about her, was it? 

“You… I thought you knew.” 

“No one controlled by an akumatized retains any memories of their time controlled,” Chat spat out bitterly. 

“But it’s… it was all over the internet and the Ladyblog.” 

Chat shrugged a shoulder, staring at the empty space past Ladybug’s ear instead of meeting her eyes. “I avoid it. After. I don’t want to know what I did, or didn’t do, or who I hurt, or- …I don’t want to. But I… I wish you’d told me. What else haven’t you told me about when I’ve been controlled?!” Chat demanded, breath speeding up and chest heaving. 

Ladybug bit her lip. She could leave. 

Should leave, she really DID have to get back home to check on Manon. 

But… 

No, she couldn’t. She had to make this right, had to air the wound before it could fester. “Chat, I don’t-” 

#“Welcome to your new show, hosted by me, Audimatrix! You want info?! I have that on the go!”# 

Both of the heroes jumped at the burst of noise and looked around for the source, then scrambled back to Rue de Lourmel, Ladybug almost overstepping and plummeting off the edge she couldn’t really see in the dark, pulled back at the last moment by Chat. They stared up at the display screen that had been put on top of the Franprix Supermarket/Apartment building a few years ago for Mayor Bourgeoise’s ‘media advancement’ campaign that had won him the municipal election back in 2008. 

On the screen was- 

“Nadja?!” the two yelped. Because who else could the blue Tron-lady be, really? …plus who else could be out and about and akumatized right now? 

Now Ladybug felt a bit guilty for just storming out as she had. Angry as she’d been, as justified as the anger had felt… people who were emotional were targets for akumas, and that had been a live-broadcast, one Papillon likely had been watching. She really had to start taking fallout and consequences into account, no matter how much she didn’t want to or how much the people might deserve whatever was dished out upon them, gosh darn it. 

#“Tonight, Ladybug and Chat Noir have disappointed all their fans by refusing to admit they're a couple in love. We'll see how far they're ready to go to hide the truth.”#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I really REALLY hated how the canon show made everything about Ladybug. First all the questions were directed at/answered by her, then only her reaction to the Disloceour kiss was the matter of import, then the entire sequence on the rooftop and even during the fight the only person who mattered, who’s emotions and responses had merit, was Ladybug.   
> And I want equality, and Chat was equally impacted by that… in some ways MORE impacted because he HAD NOT KNOWN about the kiss and just found out on live TV, then LB shouts about how it was just to break the spell, storms out, then lies about how they’re in love on live TV… but a kiss done in lie? No, can’t do that, that would be a LIE and it’s thus ‘not the time’.  
> Blargh


	14. Chapter 14

Chloé rested her face on one hand, glaring down at the Latin thesaurus on her lap before glancing at the La Belle et la Bête script she was slowly slogging her way through translating. Just transliterating it would be easy enough, and would likely have gotten anyone ELSE in the Latin Option class a passing grade.

Chloé and Adrien however… 

The teacher KNEW that both of them were highly fluent in Latin, had been taught it for nearly a decade now, and would be grading them based on their skill level. 

Which meant they had translate the culture and setting of the Jean Cocteau’s film into something ‘a Latin speaking native from before Latin became a dead language would understand’. 

Which apparently meant they had to Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum it and somehow make a Surrealist film ( _by a man hated by his contemporary surrealists and Dadaists_ ) function. 

Although maybe they could use Cocteau’s famous obsession with Orpheus, and the fact that Belle basically WAS ‘Orpheus’ in this film, to their advantage. 

Still. What a chore. 

One would THINK that with one of the two people responsible for the project getting KIDNAPPED for a WEEK the teacher would lighten the load. 

But no. 

They hadn’t even gotten extra time for it. 

And Adrien wasn’t up to this yet, even if he kept claiming he was. Chloé KNEW Adrien better than anyone else, she knew when he was lying – even if he was lying to himself. 

Which meant getting this project done on time with a passing grade came down to HER and- 

-and her wall-screen had just turned itself on. 

There was a blue and purple glowing escapee from Tron on it rambling about Ladybug and Chat Noir and the truth. 

…Nadja had gotten akumatized hadn’t she? Annnnnnd was targeting Chloé. 

Chloé scrambled to her feet, her thesaurus and the pages of the script falling unminded to the floor as she got ready to cover her ears and close her eyes, or- 

Tron-escapee reached up a hand and pressed her fingertips to the screen… and proceeded to phase through it as if it were a portal. 

-or Chloé could run. 

Spitting out a curse, Chloé bolted for the door to her suite, only to come up short when something snagged her and yanked her off her feet to smash to the floor, driving the air out of her lungs for a moment and bruising her chest. 

She hadn’t even DONE anything this time! HOW WAS THIS FAIR!? She’d been good and been polite the whole interview! 

Chloé twisted around and yanked the whip… no, that was a power cable, what the heck even… off her ankle, then pushed herself up to her feet and glared at Tron-escapee. “How dare you?! You have no business here! Security!” Maybe she could bluff her way out of this. It’d worked before after all. If nothing else she could probably buy time for the heroes to show up. 

Tron-escapee snapped the cabling like a whip, catching Chloé around the torso and lashing her arms tightly to her sides, making Chloé yelp in shock and pain. 

The akumatized threw an arm around Chloé’s shoulders then turned to face the screen on Chloé’s wall, a mocking parody of the ‘warm greeting’ Alec was famous for on TVi’s ‘Fill My Shoes’. “Let's welcome our very first guest! Chloé Bourgeois! Who claims to be a personal friend of our superheroes!” Tron-wannabe turned from the screen to aim a sneering smile at Chloé. “Is that true, Chloé?” 

Chloe gulped, then clenched her jaw and raised her chin. Ladybug didn’t like Chloé. Chloé had come to realize that over the month or so since the Vanisher and Antibug incident. …but Chat Noir seemed… neutral on her, varying between dry, bemused, annoyed and amused. But to back down and admit that to an akumatized, to Papillon, to what was probably a live audience of all of Paris knowing Chloé’s luck… No. No she wasn’t going to humiliate herself like that. “Yes. Absolutely.” 

“Well, let's check right now if you can really count on your so-called friends, my dear Chloé.” Tron-escapee said, raising a hand and snapping her fingers. 

Chloé’s screen went from glowing white to showing… the inside of a subway car? Tron-wannabe reached towards the screen… and then the screen cut sharply to white again as her hand phased into it. 

Like Cocteau kept doing with ‘mirrors’ in his films and GOSH DARN IT ALL this was not the time to be thinking about that! 

Tron-lady pulled Chloé with her into the screen (which felt like white-noise sounded) and when the buzzing numbness cleared, Tron-escapee and Chloé were standing in a subway car that was running the tracks somewhere beneath Paris, and the people that were in the car where rushing away, stampeding through the door into the next car. The subway pulled into a station and everyone stampeded off while Tron-failure threw Chloé to the ground, on her chest AGAIN, and it wasn’t like Chloé had a chance of breaking her fall with her arms bound up like this! “Hey, watch out!” She struggled back up to her feet, and blinked when the akumatized snapped her fingers, showing the driver of the subway… and then the supervillain left Chloé and leapt through the screen. 

Well. 

Screw this. 

While she was a bit unsteady on her feet, Chloé spun on her heel and made a mad dash for the open doors of the car. Only to have them slam in her face far faster than the doors were SUPPOSED to be able to close. 

“Help!” Chloé screamed at the people still managing to get off the other cars, but everyone ignored her. Chloé threw her shoulder against the doors, twisting around to wedge her fingers into the gap, then braced her legs and started to force the doors open. She could do this. The stupid things were designed to be able to be opened if the train was not in motion as a safety feature, she remembered her papa talking about it last year. 

The subway car lurched, and the doors closed, pinching Chloé’s fingers and making her yelp… before falling to the floor for the third time in as many minutes as the subway began moving… and then started speeding up. 

“Ohhhh, why does this always happen to me?!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

They could hear the broadcasts even in the trees, occasionally could catch glimpses of it on various media screens scattered throughout Paris. 

And it was doing a lovely job of distracting the Peacock Chosen, in Monghost’s mind. 

Audimatrix’s apparent plan ( _or perhaps Audimatrix AND Papillon’s plan, given the half conversations she’d heard thus far_ ) was a good and solid one. Trap Chloé Bourgeois on an empty subway train so no one else was in danger on the ‘Mad Subway’, slowly ramp the speed up to 100 km/h, announce it so that the lines could be cleared ahead of the runaway train so no one else was in danger… 

Huh. 

Monghost dodged a series of thrown – what were they? Feathers? Quills? Darts? Daggers? – from the peacock chosen more out of habit than necessity given her ‘permanently phased’ state. 

Was this how Papillon always operated and the ‘pure uncontrolled chaos’ was simply how it looked from the outside? 

Hm. 

Unlikely. Which meant he was modifying his behaviors for some reason. 

Monghost leapt forward in a tight flip, driving her heel towards the young hero, cursing as he dodged yet again, and ducked under the roundhouse-kick she followed up with. 

How did he keep DOING that?! 

He tried to take to the air, and Monghost leapt to the nearest tree and used a hefty branch as a springboard, getting above the superhero and aimed a swift kick – annoyed but not surprised when the kick was dodged – forcing him to abort his escape and land on a branch of a tree. 

Monghost caught the very edge of the boy’s cape as she dropped behind him, making him phase through the tree branch and dragging him to the ground with her. She was forced to let go, rolling back and away to avoid the handful of thrown quill-daggers thrown her way. 

She came up onto her feet and paused, confused to see the peacock chosen still where he’d been a moment before, tugging and yanking at something on the ground, his cape keeping her from seeing what he was doing. 

Cautious, and half certain it was a trick, Monghost moved around in a wide circle until she was in front of the Miraculous user and then paused, offering a small huff of surprise. The boy’s left leg was sunk into the ground up to his knee. 

He didn’t appear to be injured by it, which meant… hm… Monghost let one of her feet phase into the ground, then concentrated on solidifying… then she phased again and stepped back. Keeping an eye on the trapped bird-boy, she ducked down and examined the space where her foot had been. 

Huh, a hole in the shape of her foot. So she pushed material out of the way as she solidified, even stone. THAT was useful information. An easy way to deal with an opponent as wel- 

_~No! Not unless Ladybug has summoned a Lucky Charm. I want no deaths that can not be undone! …No not you, Audimatrix, I was talking to… Just… Pay attention to the train. Monghost. You will not kill or severly maim anyone. If you do our deal will be null and void in full. Do you understand me?!~_

Monghost winced, temples pounding. “Yes.” 

But at the same time, no. She did not. 

Was this behavior new or not? If it was new was it new in it’s entirety or in part? …Was- 

“You know, I can’t help but notice that you’re not really paying me much mind, and I can’t help but feel a little slighted!” 

Monghost’s attention snapped back to the here and now and locked onto the still trapped peacock chosen… 

Who seemed to have gotten his leg almost completely free, but had stopped to glare in bruised pride at Monghost. 

Well. 

No reason to deny him her attention. 

The boy’s eyes went wide as Monghost smirked and threw herself across the space between, flipping to driver her boot at his head. 

“Go back to ignoring me, GO BACK TO IGNORING ME!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes are a bit stream of consciousness this time, sorry all ^^
> 
> For the crazy level of adaption Chloé and Adrien have to do… you can blame my sign language teacher from middle school, a very nasty individual who had all of the kids in the class had to adapt an entire film into something ‘that fit deaf culture/would make sense to someone born and raised in deaf culture’… Which meant every SINGLE sound, anything that relied on sound, etc had to be adapted to visual only… and anything that portrayed ‘that damned hearing culture’ in a neutral or positive light got you an F. Also a lot of shouting kids, shaking kids, slapping kids, insisting that only those with hearing issues in class, forcing anyone with ‘normal’ hearing to switch out, we had to only use sign in class or when she could see us ( _even if we weren’t AWARE that she could see us_ ) and yes this woman was cursing… extensively… in front of – and even at – 13-15 year olds… This teacher and my 5th grade teacher are why I always thought ‘Mrs Trunchbull’ in Matilda (book and film) was believable.   
> There are unfortunately buttfaces in the world.   
> Chloé and Adrien’s Latin Teacher isn’t one of ‘em though.   
> He’s a butt about having Adrien and Chloé ‘live up to their skills/potential’ but he’s not verbally abusive or manipulative of the students like my Sign Teacher… simply demanding.   
> I dislike doing character hate and have no intent of ‘getting even’ with someone from decades past in anyway. That just isn’t something I like to do. The closest I will come is just a ‘the reason these characters have to do something above and beyond what one would normally expect is because I had to do similar so it can – and does – occur IRL’.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for how much I have worried so many of you by vanishing for six months... I have a reason for what happened, which I will explain in the end notes.  
> Thank you all for your concern and for enjoying the story until now! It really means the world to me.

#“Ladybug, Chat Noir, will you dare go through the screen to save your dear little Chloé?” #

Chat Noir and Ladybug exchanged glances, and Chat extended his baton sharply, and instead of shattering the LED screen, the baton passed through it as if it were an open door – although the screen cut sharply to white the moment contact was made.

Chat shook his head and retracted his baton, then turned to face Ladybug, offering her a sweeping, gallant bow and broad smile. “Ready to pop the screen, my Lady?”

Just like that, it was hidden away.  Ladybug frowned and glared at the screen for a moment.  Chat had been worked up, voice cracking and near tears but now…

Now he was just his usual self.

Alright, no matter what, after this fight she was setting up a ‘patrol’ with Chat tomorrow and she was going to bite the bullet and TALK TO HIM and help her friend. 

…But that was for after the immediate problem was sorted.

“I'd rather go by my own means, it could be a trap.”

Chat’s smile dropped into an annoyed and displeased scowl, cat-ears pinning flat to his hair.  “There are more than 15 lines of subways in Paris,” he said flatly.  Before Ladybug could even blink, the scowl vanished and Chat looked up at the sky, visibly doing calculations on the fly.  “Meaning 220 kilometers of rails, around 300 stations, dozens of trains and I don’t know about you but I didn’t see WHICH station Audimatix dumped everyone out at and with how fast it’s going the real risk is her closing the 8 minute gap and plowing into another train, unless they’re able to redirect the train to empty rail lines.” His gaze dropped sharply back to Ladybug and hooked a thumb at the LED screen.  “If we want to save Chloé, we don't have any other choice,” he said in a half-snarl.

Ah, so not his usual self.  Just a mask. 

To be brutally honest with herself, although she would like to get onto the subway in some other way…  even if they could find the train there was the issue of how would they get to it, catch up to it and get on it safely?  However, it probably would be best for her partner for her to deflect and not let him realize she had seen through the mask.

Ladybug smirked and sighed as dramatically as she could, pointing in joking accusation.  “Just say you love being on TV, Minou.”

Chat’s shoulders relaxed and his cat-ears unpinned, offering a faint smile.  “I get it, you've got stage fright, Bugaboo!”

Ladybug shook her head with a small laugh, relieved that she’d made the right call for her partner, then set her jaw, backing up along the rooftop – Chat Noir beside her.  Reaching the far end, they paused, then broke into a run, racing over the rooftop to leap across the street to the LED screen and through in a burst of white and static they felt more than saw.

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HOW could she have lost him?!

_~A good question.~_

He had been right THERE and TRAPPED and she’d tackled him and he’d done SOMETHING that had created a sharp burst of painfully bright light right in her face, and she’d phased by instinct and he’d held onto her, his leg pulled out of the trap of stone…  then he’d let go and had made a run for it.

She hadn’t even been able to get a glimpse of him when her eyes had cleared.  So now it was back to running over the rooftops of Paris int eh vague hope of finding him or that he would decide to attack her again… he didn’t have luck powers, he didn’t have experience, he didn’t even have any allies!!

What was going on with this day!?

_~A better question.~_

…Oh, and her current commander had yet to stop having a sarcastic commentary for the last…  however many days it had been.

_~A commentary well deserved.~_

Whatever.  She’d heard the direction the boy had gone in, and that was all she needed, as she had been working on photographic memorization of details and-

_~What a shame you never developed it.~_

…Nothing could have prepared her for the fact that Papillon, terror of Paris and the modern day, was a snarking punster.  Really, what could prepare anyone for that?!

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Chloé sat on the floor despite how gross it looked, bracing her shoulders against the corner of the subway car and her feet against the seatrow, holding onto the wall with her hands as best she could given the way her arms were bound, determined to not go crashing to the subway floor again.  She aimed a glare at Audimatrix, but the akumatized was ignoring Chloé, her eyes locked onto the screen that had, a moment ago, gone white and had Chat Noir’s baton extend through it and into subway. 

Fine.  That was fine.  Better to be ignored than to be hurt or worse.

It was still REALLY annoying though!

The screen went white again, and Ladybug and Chat Noir dove through, landing in tight rolls up and coming up onto their feet.

“At last!”  Chloé got to her feet.  She wanted out of this NOW before she ended up injured or DEAD.  “Hurry and get me out of this underground he-!”  The subway jolted around a corner and Chloé screamed as she was pitched off her feet and straight towards the ground.

Only to freeze halfway to the floor.  Chloé blinked and stared down at her chest to find that a black-leather clad arm was holding her up, and the vibrations and shakes of the train seemed to have… muted… like the subway was moving at its normal speed instead of all but flying off its rails.

Chloé was swung up and around in a single smooth motion and put on her feet beside Chat Noir, who – like Ladybug – had his attention locked onto Audimatrix, who was blathering on about audience records or some such other drivel.  Chat brought his left hand around and slashed the power cables, which fell away, freeing Chloé’s arms.  Chloé jumped slightly, chaffing her arms to try and get feeling back into them.

“Her akuma must be in her smart watch… ratings watch… thingy,” Ladybug muttered, sliding her yoyo off her hip and eyeing the confines of the subway car with a scowl.

“Thank you,” Chloé offered quietly, staring at the hand that was still holding onto her arm – keeping her balanced.

“Hey, anything for one of my best friends!”

Chloé looked up sharply, and found Chat smiling broadly at her, not a hint of sarcasm on his face or in his eyes.  Chat met her gaze and winked, and Chloé found herself smiling back.  Maybe he was really only saying it because he remembered the interview, or because of what Audimatrix had said after taking her hostage…  but maybe – just maybe - Chat Noir MEANT what he’d said, and the hero did honestly consider her a friend. 

_‘I protect my friends.’_

Protecting meant in more than just… facing down super villains and stuff like that… right? 

“Her ability isn’t like Lady Wifi,” Chloé whispered as softly as she could, leaning close to Chat.  “You don’t dematerialize or anything, and she has to go through a screen… if the screen is too small she can’t fit through it.  She barely got into the conductor’s car because she was almost too big for the screen in there.”

Chat’s eyes widened, and his smile became a smirk.  “Good to know.” 

Chat’s tail swung around a lightly tapped Ladybug, who took her eyes off Audimatrix for a moment to nod at Chat and Chloé.  “Do you have something in case I don’t have space for my yoyo?”

Chat nodded.  “Sorry, but I need to borrow this, Chloé,” he said as he reached over and pulled Chloé’s screw-top makeup compact out of her jacket pocket, then gave Chloé a small nudge so that she was right next to one of the poles, then let go, quickly unscrewing the top of the compact and dumping the contents onto the floor, using his claws to break the sectioning walls and rip them out as well. 

Chloé’s intended rant at her VERY EXPENSIVE and CUSTOM-MADE COMPACT being treated like that turned into a yelp and she grabbed the pole with both hands and even wrapped her legs around it as suddenly physics made a full return so far as she was concerned, the rattling and shaking of the subway train taking her off her feet.  Okay, maybe she should have paid more attention when Adrien and Max had gotten into that long argument about how the heroes of Paris seemed to have physics-bending powers!

“I’ll take care of Audimatrix,” Ladybug said, pulling her yoyo off her waist and spinning it, keeping the thread far shorter than Chloé was used to seeing.

“And I, the screens,” Chat said, switching Chloé’s compact to his left hand and holding his baton with his right.

Ladybug ran down the center aisle, while Chat leapt up onto the seats and extended his baton, smashing the right-hand screen.  Audimatrix dove away from his baton, and only just managed to duck under Ladybug’s yoyo, which hit the glass of the dividing door rather than the supervillain.    Chat withdrew his baton and sent it out again, and Ladybug cast her yoyo a second time-

-but both were a fraction of a second too slow, as Audimatix managed to leap back to her left and into the other screen, which went white as the supervillain, yoyo and baton went through.

Ladybug snapped her yoyo back out of the screen and into her hand and raced forward, diving through the glowing white screen.  Chat’s eyes went wide and after a quick glance at Chloé, Chat leapt blindly after Ladybug.

Leaving Chloé alone as the subway continued to race down the tracks towards near certain doom.

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Monghost landed on a treetop and looked around for a blue suit and green cape.  The peacock chosen was hardly stealthy in coloration, even at night he should be easy to spot one would think.

But no, there was nothing. 

The cowardly child had probably run off somewhere and detransformed and was cowering beneath his sheets, frightened of the monsters beneath his b-

Something slammed painfully into her shoulder-blades, sending her forward and down, her face smashing into the tree trunk and braid swinging about and tangling in the branch of the tree as whatever it was that had hit her pushed off her shoulders and flew up and away.

Alright.  That was it.

She was going to make it her life’s work to END that annoying popinjay.

Monghost whipped her head around, and managed to catch a glimpse of green feathers darting around the roof of a nearby building.

Monghost went to push herself back to her feet, only to find herself pulled up short by her braid, which was still tangled in the branch.  Monghost cursed and went to phase…

And then realized her mistake… as since her hair was tangled in the branch, the tree itself phased with her rather than letting her easily get free.  Cursing the universe in general and the peacock chosen in particular Monghost grabbed her braid with both hands and ripped it free of the entangling branches, then leapt toward the rooftop she’s seen the green feathers at, leaving behind the tree… which was now notably lower than it had been a few moments prior.

Monghost landed ont eh rooftop and lunged forward up and over a chimney, eyes scans the rooftops for any scrap of color, any human shape, any thing that would lead her to her prey.

She would kill him.  She would make it slow, and painful, and get some SATISFACTION from this entire mess. 

There!  A hint of blue and a human shaped shadow in a nook formed by three rooftops and a chimney meeting to form an oddly shaped box of deep shadow.

There was nothing, and no one who would stop her from getting her REVE-

Something small and blue darted out of the deep shadow and flared a green tail with iridescent pink eyes, screeching like a demon and Monghost pulled up short instinctively.

“What the-  What are YOU!?”

“Me?”  the blue thing asked, then offered a chuckle that raised every hair on Monghost’s head and set every nerve jangling like an alarm bell.  “I’m the kwami of warriors!  REGAAL!”

Monghost could only stare blankly, completely derailed.  “You wh-”

The small peacock-like thing gave another demonic screech and launched himself at Monghost in a streak of blue, slamming into her solar plexus like a bullet train.

Monghost was smashed off her feet and up into the air, arching up and over the rooftops and the Seine before smashing into a rooftop.

She lay there, slowly phasing down through the rooftiles and then through the clutter of the attic, trying to get her lungs and brain to work.

…You know what?

Screw Papillon and peacock themed super heroes and super hero themed…  things… and superheroes and supervillains in general.

She was done for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back in February, I was involved in a minor hit-and-run.  
> On the plus side, it was at slow speeds (the car that hit me was only going ~10 mph)... on the minus side, my pelvis and legs are a wreck and weak... which means my pelvis was broken, as was both of my thighs and my right knee.
> 
> While I was able to use the internet to a degree, I was in a lot of pain and had little to no energy to spare. I was off the net/computer for nearly a month and when I came back, what little energy I had ended up being devoted to my paying jobs (editing, researching) and my important volunteer jobs (therapy and server-admin).
> 
> I know I should have come and made a temp chapter explaining things but I-  
> and I admit this is very very STUPID  
> -I didn't want to admit defeat. Posting a temp chapter saying I couldn't work on the fic would make it REAL in a way that my attempts to try and WRITE the next chapter would not... In a small way, it was also that I didn't realize how fast time was passing -my time sense tends to be shot when I'm in pain-
> 
> I also didn't realize that people were asking what was going on in the comments... as I STILL haven't managed to get my ao3 account to send me email updates when I get kudos or comments (I don't know what or HOW I messed it up. I obviously did SOMETHING I just don't know WHAT =_=) As I'd been avoiding ao3 in my 'if I just don't go there then it won't be so bad and I won't feel like a failed!! self-imposed exile.  
> I just thought that everything had gone silent until podfic contacted me on tumblr. Podfic, thank you SO MUCH for contacting me and letting me know about the comments and what was going on here, I honestly had no idea.
> 
> At the start of this month, my pelvis and thighs FINALLY finished healing and I finally had enough spare energy to try and start tackling the fic again. I'm already working on the next chapter!! Wish me luck, I'm going to try to get it done by next week (although I can't promise, as I'm still not really 100%... I'm old and heal slowly)
> 
> I'm also going to go through this and my other fics and try to answer every comment. Please accept my apologies, and know that I am truly sorry for any worry I caused.
> 
> =======
> 
> ....Regaal's scene was my tribute to a moment of 'so horrible it's hilarious' in a 'so bad it's good' film... AKA 'King of Fighters'.  
> I have been wanting to use that scene since the film came out. I'm a giant dork.  
> [My redesign for Regaal](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/61420d19-450a-40b3-99dd-36a52f4272d7/dcndo0v-e16bc3c3-29b5-4680-8b21-c497084c6ee6.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzYxNDIwZDE5LTQ1MGEtNDBiMy05OWRkLTM2YTUyZjQyNzJkN1wvZGNuZG8wdi1lMTZiYzNjMy0yOWI1LTQ2ODAtOGIyMS1jNDk3MDg0YzZlZTYucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.eLPzlZP1Ei6R2U-B76rbk8kc4V6B00A6GtlkRdToPn4)


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